PHL273H1 Lecture Notes - Positive Liberty, Negative Liberty, Positive Force
Document Summary
Today"s lecture (phl271h1f) june 6 th , 2011. The law works to legitimate male power. Popular myths about these and justice wilson"s approach. Liberals tend to emphasize how the law works towards fundamentally neutral rights. Mackinnon feels like notions such as the reasonable person have been used in ways that are not neutral and prevent women from being seen as equal. The leftist critique of the state recognizes the problem of this neutrality but thinks of law as a legitimating ideology. If all law is a tool of dominance and repression, there is no way it can be reclaimed for women. Gender is a social system that divides power. The law makes it difficult to see and change many social inequalities. Mackinnon gives four examples of how the state undermines inequality in a bid to push for neutrality. The first example refers to the constitution (america). Only if the state has done something then can the law offer a remedy.
