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22 L. & Critique 1 (2011)

handle is hein.journals/lwcrtq22 and id is 1 raw text is: Law Critique (2011) 22:1-13 DOI 10.1007/s10978-010-9078-6 Doing Justice to Existence: Jean-Luc Nancy and 'The Size of Humanity' Ignaas Devisch Published online: 14 December 2010 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 Abstract Jean-Luc Nancy has not written a single work dedicated entirely to the problem of justice or related themes, but nevertheless, topics such as right, justice, judgement or law appear in various places in Nancy's work. Besides 'Lapsus judicii' and 'Dies irae', the theme of justice particularly comes up and in two small texts: 'Cosmos Basileus' and 'Human Excess'. These texts are crucial to understand Nancy's point of view in juridical matters but are largely left aside in secondary literature, probably because of their enigmatic character. In this article we explore the cluster of juridical questions in 'Cosmos Basileus' and 'Human Excess' and argue why today, for Nancy, an ontological perspective is needed to cope with juridical questions. For him, justice is in the first place bound up with the fact of our co-existence, with what is unique about every existence in its co-existence with other creations. He claims, first, that freedom is responsibility and the act of doing justice to existence and, second, that sharing the world is the law of the world. We will discuss these two claims and conclude with Nancy's plead for ontological reflection within juridical topics. Keywords Justice - Co-existence - Measure - Humanity - Jean-Luc Nancy Judgment Justice and Humanity In Law and Critique attention has already been given to the work of French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy and its relationship to law. In particular, the texts 'Lapsus judicii' (Nancy and Sparks 2003) and 'Dies irae' (Nancy 1985) are already I. Devisch (E) Philosophy of Medicine and Ethics/Social Work, Artevelde University College and Ghent University, Campus Heymans (UZ) 3B3, De Pintelaan 185 BE, Ghent, Belgium e-mail: Ignaas.Devisch@UGent.be; ignaasdevisch@scarlet.be I_ Springer