tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6783095578355381199.post1496797085772288071..comments2024-03-08T19:19:27.806+02:00Comments on Environment, Law, and History: A River Runs Through ItDavid Schorrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17660528755791077974noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6783095578355381199.post-28341345230681877452016-03-09T21:13:22.169+02:002016-03-09T21:13:22.169+02:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16418310563906525709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6783095578355381199.post-26802934392011946062016-03-07T11:39:50.202+02:002016-03-07T11:39:50.202+02:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06356214012814661584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6783095578355381199.post-52352997508834344322016-03-02T16:04:56.256+02:002016-03-02T16:04:56.256+02:00correction: "in the service of an a-political...correction: "in the service of an a-political conception of the public interest."Mark S. Weinerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16737639947822966202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6783095578355381199.post-3661120974326925352016-03-02T16:03:36.778+02:002016-03-02T16:03:36.778+02:00Thanks, Eric! I certainly hope that this is precis...Thanks, Eric! I certainly hope that this is precisely the aspect of Kelsen's approach to the ideal of purity I've brought out in the film—it's what was intended. But then there is a further step, namely to connect the formalism of the pure theory of law and its understanding of the state, in which law and state merge, with the strong exercise of state administrative authority used in Austria to keep its waters pure. The metaphor of purity is important to me in this respect in highlighting not a mystic aspect to Kelsen's legal philosophy—it's anything but that—but rather a shared set of attitudes about state authority across Austrian legal fields. Under Kelsen, the state is protected in its purity by walling law from politics; in Austrian environmental law, at least in the case of water regulation, the environment is protected in its purity through a strong administrative state theorized as the exercise of neutral expertise in the service of an a-political conception of the public. In both cases the state and its law are theorized as a-political at their core: an elite managerial conception of government and the public interest that is a curious echo of monarchy—and that registers, or that can be made to register, in film. And so then, also, the film explores the use of metaphor as a tool in legal-cultural analysis. So I think we in fact agree, at least about the core concern you raise.Mark S. Weinerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16737639947822966202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6783095578355381199.post-65132922578620948552016-03-02T07:52:47.127+02:002016-03-02T07:52:47.127+02:00It is a beautiful idea to compare the pureness of ...It is a beautiful idea to compare the pureness of water in Austria to the pureness of law according to Kelsen's theory! But it could be misleading, if you look at Kelsen's motivation: he wanted to get rid of ideological political influences on law, and he chose the word "pure" to express the idea of legal reasoning being "stricly legal" (and nothing else). There is nothing mystical about that.Eric Hilgendorfhttp://www.rechtstheorie.denoreply@blogger.com