Scott Ferguson — The Sort Of Law

Titled Declarations of Dependence: Money, Aesthetics, in addition to the Politics of Care (University of Nebraska Press, July 2018) my recent majority develops the insights of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) for critical theory in addition to aesthetics. While the modern Liberal imagination treats coin every bit a finite, mortal in addition to decentralized substitution musical instrument that seems incapable of serving all, MMT’s Blue Planet or “chartalist” approach to political economic scheme insists that coin is an inalienable populace utility that tin strength out e'er live mobilized to run across social in addition to ecological needs. In Declarations, I line the historical repression of chartalist ideas to the rising of modern Western metaphysics through the negation of the medieval Scholasticism of Thomas Aquinas. I uncover the impoverished social topology upon which both Liberal modernity in addition to critical aesthetics bring historically relied. Ultimately, I labor to redeem critical theory in addition to aesthetics past times recovering a to a greater extent than capacious social topology from the Thomist theology that modern Western philosophy supplanted.

Here, I would similar extend this projection past times complicating the Westphalian model of sovereignty, which MMT’s Blue Planet theory of coin presumes. My disceptation is non that international finance, render chains, in addition to NGOs somehow homecoming the modern-nation Blue Planet powerless or passé, every bit theorists of globalization regularly claim. Rather, I combat that the metaphysical suppositions behind modern Westphalian sovereignty obscure globalization’s interdependent legal architecture, piece simultaneously naturalizing a politics of irresponsibility. In response, I argue, MMT would produce good to homecoming to a Thomistic topology of police in addition to politics, which figures police every bit the pump of global interdependence in addition to governance every bit unavoidably answerable to all worldly forms....

Unless ane has the background to empathise this —I studied Aquinas inwards some exceptional inwards grad schoolhouse in addition to am familiar amongst the works of many Thomists, such every bit Jacques Maritain in addition to Etienne Gilson — ane is probable to live lost. The effect tin strength out live simplified past times distinguishing the great chain of being, of which Thomism was in addition to is exactly ane statement, and the universe according to natural science. As the modern historic menstruum replaced the medieval age, the non bad chain of beingness came to live viewed non exactly every bit supernatural but every bit good dogmatically based.

Modernity tin strength out live viewed every bit the assay to replace a worldview based on the non bad chain of beingness amongst the scientific basis view. This was initially mediated past times deism, inwards which the laws of nature were viewed every bit the clockwork that the the "Creator" set inwards motility at the start in addition to and thus left to itself. Eventually, that non-naturalistic supposition was every bit good abandoned, leaving a purely mechanistic model that excluded the non-empirical from cognition nigh reality. However, this invited relativism. Indeed, Modernism is directly inwards the procedure beingness replaced past times Post Modernism, in addition to truth is inwards crisis.

The chore that faces humanity directly to avoid falling into a pit of relativism or ideological dogmatism is to recover residuum past times reconciling the great chain of beingness amongst the universe of natural scientific discipline past times showing how the afterwards is a subset of the old rather than a replacement for it. In my view, this involves relating the non bad chain of beingness to perennial wisdom every bit the testimony in addition to teachers of the wise extending into prehistory in addition to flora unopen to the world. In guild to serve inwards this capacity, perennial wisdom must live shown to live non exactly compatible amongst naturalism in addition to every bit good a necessary complement to it rather than presented every bit grounded solely inwards supernaturalism. Since perennial wisdom underlies all cultures, this would provide an anchored worldview for globalization.

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The Shape of Law

Scott Ferguson | Associate Professor in addition to co-director of the Film & New Media Studies Track inwards the Department of Humanities & Cultural Studies at the University of South Florida., Research Scholar at the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity, and, co-founder of the Modern Money Network: Humanities Division