Legal Theory and the Anthropocene Challenge: The Implications of Law, Science, and Policy for Weapons of Mass Destruction and Climate Change: The Expanding the Constraining Boundaries of Legal Space and Time and the Challenge of the Anthropocene

Authors

Winston P. Nagan, University of Florida Levin College of LawFollow
Judit K. Otvos

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 2010

OCLC FAST subject heading

Environment law

Abstract

The idea of legal theory as a self-conscious theory for inquiry about law has opened up the framework of observation and participation. It has heightened social responsibility in ways that have been creative and receptive to analogies and metaphors from the developments in modern science. This paper explores some of these dominant borrowed metaphors. It further emphasizes the importance of the wide range of concerns in law technically, as well as the law’s capacity to manage and manipulate space and time implicating such issues as weapons of mass destruction, rights of indigenous people, deforestation, and climate change. By giving the "Anthropocene" perspective a self-conscious focus on decision-making, this article explores the challenges and opportunities inherent in legal culture for addressing contemporary global crises.

Recommended Citation

Winston P. Nagan & Judit K. Otvos, Legal Theory and the Anthropocene Challenge: The Implications of Law, Science, and Policy for Weapons of Mass Destruction and Climate Change: The Expanding the Constraining Boundaries of Legal Space and Time and the Challenge of the Anthropocene, 12 J. L. & Soc. Challenges 150 (2010), available at http://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/facultypub/410