Comparative Law comes with the attire of innocence. Mainstream comparatists claim that it is “only a method” which is devoted to produce information in search of the truth and to enrich the supply of solutions for social problems. The lecture will visit comparative law’s “école de vérité” and challenge the story and self-image of innocence and the widespread political agnosticism. It will explore some of the methodological and political sins of the fathers, the “classics” of comparative law”, and their sons, the neoclassical protagonists of functionalism and factualism, by deconstructing the disciplinary stance of neutrality and objectivity and by focusing on the politics of the comparative method and projects. Comparative Law will turn out to be about knowledge as well as power and hegemony.
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The Innocence of Method and the Sins of the Fathers
Günter Frankenberg (Frankfurt)
Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Villa Jaffé, Wallotstr. 10, 14193 Berlin