Residues of justice : literature, law, philosophy

Takes on the philosophical tradition from Kant to Rawls, challenging its conception of justice as foundational, self-evident, and all-encompassing. In arguing for justice as an incomplete virtue, this book draws upon legal history, political philosophy, linguistics, theology, and feminist theory. Introduction: Justice and Commensurability -- 1. Crime and Punishment. Kant, Nietzsche, Beccaria. Taxonomy and Jurisdiction. Uneven Development. Gendered Justice: The Deerslayer. Crime as a Signifying Field. Equality Republican and Liberal. Decline of Political Rationality. Feminization of Virtue -- 2. Part and Whole. Metonymy and Materialism. Bodies Physical and Nonphysical. Marxist Individualism. Marx and Durkheim. New Historicism and the Preposition "In" Reading the Incomplete: Herman Melville. The Limits of Totality: Rebecca Harding Davis -- 3. Luck and Love. Justice by Lottery. Luck and Desert: John Rawls. Syntax and Democracy: Noam Chomsky. Grammatical Subjects: "Song of Myself" Semantics and Memory. Preference Human and Divine: The Wide, Wide World. The Language of Protestant Memory. Mere and Arbitrary Grace: Jonathan Edwards -- 4. Pain and Compensation. A Just Measure. Quantifying Morality. Rational Benevolence. Tort Law. Functional Adaptation. In this arresting book, Wai Chee Dimock takes on the philosophical tradition from Kant to Rawls, challenging its conception of justice as foundational, self-evident, and all-encompassing. The idea of justice is based on the premise that the world can be resolved into commensurate terms: punishment equal to the crime, redress equal to the injury, benefit equal to the desert. Dimock focuses, however, on what remains unexhausted, unrecovered, and noncorresponding in the exercise of justice Wai Chee Dimock. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 225-269) And Indexes.