Critical theory and legal autopoiesis

This volume collects and revises the key essays of Gunther Teubner, one of the world's leading sociologists of law.

Written over the past twenty years, these essays examine the 'dark side' of functional differentiation and the prospects of societal constitutionalism as a possible remedy. Teubner's claim is that critical accounts of law and society require reformulation in the light of the sophisticated diagnoses of late modernity in the writings of Niklas Luhmann, Jacques Derrida and select examples of modernist literature.

Autopoiesis, deconstruction and other post-foundational epistemological and political realities compel us to confront the fact that fundamental democratic concepts such as law and justice can no longer be based on theories of stringent argumentation or analytical philosophy. We must now approach law in terms of contingency and self-subversion rather than in terms of logical consistency and rational coherence.

'For a number of years now Gunther Teubner has been one of the most important and visible figures in the sociology of law. His concept of "societal constitutionalism" has largely shaped the perspective of constitutional sociology. In these essays he deploys the heuristic power of systems theory to argue against a purely political constitutionalism and in favour of re-conceiving constitutionalisation across social fields. The collection represents a highly significant contribution to one of the key theoretical debates of our time.' – Emilios Christodoulidis, Chair of Jurisprudence, School of Law, University of Glasgow