The Scandal of Enlightenment and the Birth of Disciplines: Is International Law a Science?

International Community Law Review, Vol. 12, pp. 5-34, 2010

30 Pages Posted: 8 Sep 2009 Last revised: 30 Jun 2012

Date Written: September 6, 2009

Abstract

Today’s mainstream international law scholarship (MILS) is concerned primarily with the issue of its scientificity. Th is brings us to the larger epistemological questions of linear modernity, narratives of circular progress, role of colonisation and rejection of pre-science. International law is not a self-contained regime as it draws insights from all the other disciplines that were born after the Enlightenment. This article makes a psychological investigation using Nandy’s psycho-political framework under the third world approaches to international law (TWAIL). It also sees, as a case in point, the invasion of modernity via late capitalism into tribal life as modernity’s apology for the “third” disenchantment. International Law’s evolutionary scientifi city, therefore, has been examined through psychology and mythology in the post-colonial world.

Keywords: science, pre-science, tribes, history, mythology, corrupt modernity, colonialism, enlightenment, international law, madness, poverty, disenchantment, economic law, capitalism

Suggested Citation

Singh, Prabhakar, The Scandal of Enlightenment and the Birth of Disciplines: Is International Law a Science? (September 6, 2009). International Community Law Review, Vol. 12, pp. 5-34, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1469199

Prabhakar Singh (Contact Author)

Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) ( email )

Jindal Centre 12 Bhi12 Bhikaiji Cama Place
Near Jagdishpur Village
New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh/Haryana 110 066
India

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