CHEM 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Western Law, Erwin Panofsky, Middle Ages

• School: McGill University
• Department: Chemistry
• Course: CHEM 110
• Professor: Ariel Fenster

Document Summary

The splendour of form: scholastic jurisprudence and irrational formality". Peculiar tension: on the one hand the evolution of western legal culture towards a rational formality is intertwined with the ascent of the university in the middle ages creating a legal science. On the other hand, modern/pre-modern divide separates us from medieval legal scholarship where we see medieval scholarship as erratic and tedious and irrational. Irrational formality as opposed to formal rationality = hallmark of medieval. Dedek claims that scholastic jurisprudence of medieval scholars is not as remote from us as we may think. Image of cathedral = embodiment of scholastic thinking. Opens up an alternative to seeking exclusively rational account of scholastic methodology. Wishes to offer functional account of irrational formality of scholastic jurisprudence and non- functional account. Weber: traditional behaviour is never entirely explicable in rational terms. Concept of legal tradition emphasizes the ritualistic, contingent and irrational aspects of law as a social practice.