From Newton's Sleep

What does the presence of law say of the beliefs of individuals in a society--their actual beliefs--about language, themselves, the world around them? In a strikingly original work intended not only for practicing lawyers but for anyone interested in the modern dilemma of the loss of meaning, Joseph Vining invites us to reconsider law as a unique form of thought, inseparably connected to everything in the world that makes up human identity. Oliver Wendell Holmes asserted at the end of the nineteenth century that human law is ultimately a phenomenon in quantitative relations to its causes and effects, and many have been left with an impression of law as a set of processes and rules. Vining takes issue with this and with various reductionist attempts in scientific thought today to express the universe in a single mathematical description of forces, as well as with post-structuralist speculation that there are no valid truth claims, and that human inter-action can be reduced to analysis of power relationships. Law, he argues, is an independent discourse, not reducible to any other, that exists only in human interaction and reflects continuing human worth. Vining's search to reinstate the spiritual dimension in public discourse brings him head-on with a wide array of powerful academic forces: linguistics theory, political science, the new historicism, and the traditional teaching of law. This book consists of a collection of what Vining calls "amplifications" of the implied text of the law--impressions, commentaries, vignettes, poems, and dialogues--which illustrate aspects of conventional legal language and logic, and the subjects legal practice regularly deals with, such as promises, death, and crime. Throughout we see that law reaches deeply into the way we know ourselves and other persons, all of whom speak through law as law connects language to person and person to action. The texts generated by legal method constitute the living record of social acquaintance and contest, speaking across cultures and across centuries. It is the close reading of legal texts and contexts, Vining argues, that provides the present source of the transcendental in modern secular life. But unlike the other academic arts of interpretation, law alone is directly connected with the most real, the most particular and, at the same time, the most universal facts of social life. From Newton's Sleep poses ultimate questions for a century that now approaches its end, casts doubt on certainties past and present, and creates new grounds for skepticism and conviction. The fragmentary form of the book mirrors its subject. It is intended to be picked up and read as occasion allows, especially at evening, by lawyers and all their fellow nonlawyers. What does the presence of law say of the beliefs of individuals in a society - their actual beliefs, about language, themselves, the world around them? In this strikingly original work, Joseph Vining invites us to utterly reconsider what we think we know about law. For a century now, certainly since 1897 when Oliver Wendell Holmes insisted that law must finally be reducible to a phenomenon in quantitative relations to its causes and effects, the conception of law as consisting essentially of rules or processes has dominated analysis in the Anglo-American world. Vining takes vigorous issue with this and all other forms of mechanical reductionism, particularly in the sciences, where he opposes the materialist attempt to see life as mere physical process, expressible by a single mathematical description of forces. But he is equally concerned to combat the post-structuralist contention, in the humanities, that valid truth claims are illusory, and that legal behavior is to be explained as a function of power relationships. Law, Vining argues, constitutes an autonomous form of thought. It does not derive its authority, as many authors have supposed, from some logically prior discipline, whether physics, economics, or philosophy, these ultimately depend on law itself, in its fundamental expression of human intellect and purpose. Law, he holds, is inseparably connected to everything in the world that goes to make up personal identity and meaning. . The fragmentary form of the book mirrors its subject. Arranged in eight sections, it consists of brief commentaries, aphorisms, vignettes, poems, and dialogues - what Vining calls "amplifications" of an implied text arising from the most basic facts of human activity; keeping faith, reasoning, intending, promising and forgiving, the giving of life and the taking of it. This "living text" supports the way we know ourselves and other persons, all speaking in their turn through law as law connects language to person, and person to action. It is the close reading of the individual texts legal method generates, across centuries and across cultures, that makes transcendental experience possible in a secular age, owing to law's unique status as the sole technique of interpretation rooted in the most particular facts and, at the same time the universal facts of social knowledge. From Newton's Sleep poses ultimate questions for a century that now approaches its end, looks forward to the one that will follow, casts doubt on certainties both ancient and modern, and creates new grounds for skepticism and conviction. It is intended to be read in pieces, as time and occasion allow, especially at evening, by lawyers and all their fellow nonlawyers. What the presence of law tells us about our beliefs, our language, and the world around usIn a strikingly original work intended not only for practicing lawyers but for anyone interested in the modern dilemma of the loss of meaning, Joseph Vining invites us to reconsider law as a unique form of thought, inseparably connected to everything in the world that makes up human identity. Oliver Wendell Holmes asserted at the end of the nineteenth century that human law is ultimately a phenomenon in quantitative relations to its causes and effects, and many have been left with an impression of law as a set of processes and rules. Vining takes issue with this and with various reductionist attempts in scientific thought today to express the universe in a single mathematical description of forces, as well as with post-structuralist speculation that there are no valid truth claims, and that human inter-action can be reduced to analysis of power relationships. Law, he argues, is an independent discourse, not reducible to any other, that exists only in human interaction and reflects continuing human worth. Vining's search to reinstate the spiritual dimension in public discourse brings him head-on with a wide array of powerful academic forces: linguistics theory, political science, the new historicism, and the traditional teaching of law.This book consists of a collection of what Vining calls'amplifications'of the implied text of the law—impressions, commentaries, vignettes, poems, and dialogues—which illustrate aspects of conventional legal language and logic, and the subjects legal practice regularly deals with, such as promises, death, and crime. Throughout we see that law reaches deeply into the way we know ourselves and other persons, all of whom speak through law as law connects language to person and person to action. The texts generated by legal method constitute the living record of social acquaintance and contest, speaking across cultures and across centuries. It is the close reading of legal texts and contexts, Vining argues, that provides the present source of the transcendental in modern secular life. But unlike the other academic arts of interpretation, law alone is directly connected with the most real, the most particular and, at the same time, the most universal facts of social life.From Newton's Sleep casts doubt on the certainties past and present and creates new grounds for skepticism and conviction. The fragmentary form of the book mirrors its subject. It is intended to be picked up and read as occasion allows by lawyers and anyone interested in law. This text consists of a collection of what it calls "amplifications" of the implied text of the law - impressions, commentaries, vignettes, poems and dialogues - which illustrate aspects of conventional legal language and logic.