Unjust Legality: A Critique of Habermas’s Philosophy of Law

This is an interpretation and critique of Habermas’s philosophy of law in his Between Facts and Norms . James Marsh feels that, while Habermas is insightful in laying out a new conceptual and methodological foundation for the philosophy of law, the book is flawed by a fundamental contradiction: the notion of a democracy ruled by law and capitalism. As capitalism is essentially undemocratic both in its internal economic workings and its intended, structural effect on culture and politics, it must adversely affect the most important institutions in western democratic society: the legislature, judiciary, state administration and public sphere. As a result, instead of a nation effectively of, by, and for the people , there exists one that is essentially of, by, and for capital .