The Moral Ambivalence of the Rule of Law: The Latent Tension Between Politics and Morality Cover Image

Ambivalenţa morală a „domniei legii”: tensiunea potenţială între politică şi moralitate
The Moral Ambivalence of the Rule of Law: The Latent Tension Between Politics and Morality

Author(s): Cecilia Tohaneanu
Subject(s): Cultural Essay, Political Essay, Societal Essay
Published by: Fundaţia »Societatea Civilă« (FSC)
Keywords: Rule of Law; politics; justice; legal duties; moral duties

Summary/Abstract: Being conceived as a defense against arbitrary government and the infringement of individual rights, the „rule of law” is a principle whose value is recognized today by all democratic societies. As a premise of fairness, the rule of law is nevertheless not necessarily related to justice (and, in general, to morality). Politics finds itself between the often conflicting requirements of legality, understood as a human aspiration or project that guides or should guide politics. Hard to harmonize, these constraints, that at times appear to be a source of genuine dilemmas, are rather embodiments of the different forms that justice could and should take.The article explores the posibility of using some of Kant’s concepts (duties/rights vs. duties/virtues) in tackling this complex and entangled triangle, that is politics, legality and morality.

  • Issue Year: 2009
  • Issue No: 134
  • Page Range: 28-31
  • Page Count: 4
  • Language: Romanian