The Rearguard of Subjectivity: On Legal Semiotics – Festschrift in Honour of Jan M. Broekman (Law and Visual Jurisprudence, 9)

Edmund Husserl’s ideas, informed by Kant’s Critiques, constituted a point of departure when rereading philosophical problems of subject and subjectivity. In his “Phänomenologie und Egologie” (1961/63), Jan Broekman revealed how Husserl analysed the “Split Ego” notion in Kant’s vision, which became fundamental for his phenomenology. The form and function of subjectivity were likewise positioned in psychiatry and literature, as well as in aesthetics, as Jan Broekman’s texts on ‘cubism’ demonstrated. Problems of ‘language’ unfolded in studies on topics ranging from the texts of Ezra Pound to the dialogic insights of Martin Buber, all of which were involved in the development of semiotics. Two themes accompanied these insights: the notion and later Parisian mainstream called structuralism, and the urgent need to arrive at deeper insights into the links between Marxism and phenomenology. Central language concepts also played a part: as early as 1986, Jan Broekman published on ‘semiology and medical discourse’, and in 1992 on ‘neurosemiotics’, before addressing the link between speech act and (legal as well as social) freedom in 1993. In all these works, the subject and the atmosphere of subjectivity were essential aspects. In addition to his writing, Jan Broekman gave courses on current philosophical issues, law and medicine until retiring in 1996, and in his “Intertwinements of Law and Medicine” revisited subjectivity aspects, while also offering a synthetic view.In this Festschrift in honour of Jan Broekman, the contributions address the analogue/digital dichotomy in semiotics, the multicultural self in language and semiotics, semiology and legal discourse, the legal subject and the atmosphere of subjectivity, intertwinements of law and medicine, the semiotics of law in legal education, signs in law and legal discourse, making meaning in law, and legal speech acts. Preface Book Publications Jan M. Broekman Contents The Efficient Jurist as a Semiotician: A Dialogue with Jan Broekman and Larry Catá Backer 1 Introduction 2 The Questions Concerning the Internal and External Points of View: A Dialogue with Hart, Postema and Fish 3 The CLS ́s Interiorization of the Semiotic Modus Operandi: An Exemplary Manifestation of the Possibilities and Limits of the ... 4 Answering Paths 4.1 Considering the First Ensemble of Questions 4.2 Considering the Second Ensemble of Questions References On the Life and Work of Tikhon Fedorovich Stepanov References Describe, Predict, Intervene!-On Objective Subjectivities and the Simulacra of Semiotics in the New Era; Simulated Significati... 1 Introduction 2 Mathematical Intuition for the Masses 2.1 From Model to Subject And Back Again 2.2 The Reality of the Model and the Model of Reality-Modeling COVID in the US 2.2.1 Constituting the COVID-19 Golem 2.2.2 The Building Blocks of Imitation 2.2.3 The Simulation as the Modeled Collective 2.2.4 Simulation as Politics and the Battle of the Models in the United States 3 In Search of Semiotic `Trantors ́: The Modeling of Predictive Universes 3.1 The Construction and Operation of Contemporary Trantors-The New Semiotics of Regulations and Social Relations Trantor 3.2 Reading the Runes: The Semiotics of Modelling and the Modelling of Semiotics 4 Conclusion: Interpreting Pharoah ́s Dream in Trantor References Students Making Meaning: Teaching Legal Semiotics in the Context of International Law 1 Introduction 2 Method and Students 3 Reading Semiotics 4 Semiotics and Interpretation 5 Silence as a Sign in International Law 6 Simulating UN Treaty-Body Meetings 7 Law Teachers as Semioethicians 8 Conclusion References On Language and Power Rethinking Legal Thinking 1 Law, Lawyer and Judicial Thoughts 1.1 Case and Law 1.2 Legal Argumentation 1.3 Interactivity 2 Formative Social Forces in Law 2.1 Precedents and Statutes 2.2 Legalism 2.3 Realism 2.4 Legal Process 2.5 Originalism 2.6 Pragmatism 3 Law, Case and Concept 3.1 Foundational Structures 3.2 Case Driven 3.3 Case by Case References Reflecting on Law and Language 1 Introduction 2 On Languages, Artificial and Natural, and the Construction of Socio-Political Orders 3 Language and the Formation of Legal Consciousness 4 Semiotics, Law, Subjectivity 5 The Legal Subject ́s Linguisitic Position 6 ``Conversions ́ ́ Between ``Analog ́ ́ and ``Digital ́ ́ Languages 7 Conclusions 8 A Doubt References Jan Broekman and the Multicultural Self 1 Why Western European Multiculturalism Failed 2 Who Is the Multicultural Self? 2.1 Broekman ́s Description of the Multicultural Self 2.2 The Multicultural Self as a Hermeneutical Achievement 3 The Multicultural Self as the Result of Democratic Politics 3.1 Between Taylor and Habermas: Ignatieff ́s Minimalist Approach to Human Rights 3.2 Politically Enabling the Multicultural Self 4 Conclusion References Lady Justice ́s Crooked Teeth: Sustainable Judicial Empathy Through (Inter-)Personal Rela(xa)tion(s) 1 Introduction and Scope 2 Belgium ́s Un-enviable Politico-judicial Constellation: Legal Positivism as Cartesianism in legalibus 3 Judicial Empathy Fatigue, Chronic Stress and Social Rela(xa)tion(s) 4 Conclusion References Narrativity and Memory. Towards an Ethics of Testimony 1 Narrative Plots and Fragmentary Documents 2 An Identity Constructed Between the Cracks 3 The Duty of Memory as a Duty to Do Justice References Juridical Dignity and (Inter)subjectivity: Semiotic and Normative Levels 1 Human Dignity and Juridical Dignity 1.1 Juridical Dignity and Juridical (Inter)subjectivity 1.2 Juridical Subjects, Subjectivity and Intersubjectivity Within the Validity of Law 2 For a Reconstruction of the Relationship Between Juridical Dignity and Human Dignity, Within Difference and Recognition References The Performance of (the Declaration of) Independence 1 Performing a Constitution 2 Theatricalizing a Declaration References Philosophy of Friendship 1 Lysis 2 Gilgamesh 3 Koinonia 4 The Existential Need for Friendship 5 The Aristotelian Definition of Friendship 6 From Aristotle to Mauss 7 Rumi and Shams of Tabriz 8 Friendship and Otherness References From Life to Law: Towards an Evolving Conception of Ecocide 1 Dual Circuit of Law 2 Lines of Resistance 3 Lines of Transformation 4 Conclusion References Subject and Self References