Love, Law, and Politics
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Description
The claim of this chapter is that law and politics should be grounded in love. This love is quieter than—although just as elusive as—the open-eyed passion of Carol Gilligan's Psyche. It is the fellow-feeling that leads us to presume connection rather than detachment and to respect.the value and voice of each human subject. Like a healthy romantic passion, it requires the courage to face the sometimes stormy weather of relationship. And like a healthy romantic passion, it offers an alternative to tragedy. In what follows, I will explain this radical-sounding claim and then speculate about the kind of culture in which it might find traction. The claim, I will argue, is a lesson of history, and it takes hold when people are able to do two things: to think relationally in public spheres and to avoid the suppression of subordinate voices.
Source Publication
Enacting Pleasure: Artists and Scholars Respond to Carol Gilligan's New Map of Love
Source Editors/Authors
Peggy Cooper Davis, Lizzy Cooper Davis
Publication Date
2011
Recommended Citation
Davis, Peggy C., "Love, Law, and Politics" (2011). Faculty Chapters. 301.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/301
