WORKSHOP PRESENTATION: João Tiago FREITAS MENDES in Law, Anarchism and Destituent Power: The State’s Monopoly of Violence (London: Senate House, 4 JUNE)

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On 4 June 2024, drs. João Tiago Freitas Mendes (FCT/VUB) will present his work on "non-commercial sociability" at the Workshop: Law, Anarchism and Destituent Power: The State’s Monopoly of Violence, in the Senate House Building in London.

Abstract of the presentation:

"Past works referred to legal sociability are of various kinds. Some are normativist and end up reinforcing legal power. They suggest that “humanity” and “democracy” should strive to comply with norms, as opposed to lazy animals that we don't know. Luhmann, Mollers or Forst would also be suitable examples. Sociological visions offer a theory of elitist (so-called “social”) choices and the corporate behavior of egoists. The most famous is still Bourdieu's. These are the two usual types. There are others that are just well-meaning appeals. It is against these that the more sophisticated approaches mentioned above have emerged. They usually boil down to saying that law is not social, although nobody really understands what that means. To the extent that rules are part of a society based on commercial exchanges, and that these exchanges are relevant to the distribution of property, it is only natural that rules obey this kind of values. This is often referred to as the “social necessity of law”. Wietholter pointed out - paraphrasing George Bernard Shaw: this is an “unsociable sociability”. The work I do belongs to a different genre. I propose, as an old-fashioned Marxist, that “juridical sociability” is a false question to some extent. My most important point is that there is another side to sociability that has not been considered. Non-negotiating activity is absorbed by alienation and tired disinterest. However, not being reified or objectively reduced to its commercial value and the contractual epigone of lawyers, it is the moment of possible liberation. Leisure is the opposite of commerciality. Rules are variable conventions, as Pufendorf emphasized the opposition between “imbecilitas” and “sociabilitas” rules are variable conventions. People's activity is also expressed in practices of cooperation, affective disposition or spontaneous will, and not primarily in the principle of obedience. If these practices are generally disregarded by jurists, it is because they are not considered to play a strong role in the negotiating way of life, noted Rousseau. There will be soccer matches, creative writing manuals and study visits to the city museum."

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