Law & Society Blog

In response to Hanno’s post on Simon Blackburn’s Lewis B. Frumkes Lecture at NYU, in which Hanno argued that international law may have been the argument the Melians lacked to convince the Athenians not to attack Melos, Simon Blackburn posted the following interesting comment:

I would classify the habit of deference to law (and law extended to cover international relations) as a good result of what I called a sentimental education - an education here into a certain pattern of respect. Perhaps that sounds odd, and if it weren’t for the Scottish tradition the word ’sentiment’ would sound out of place. I like it because it rescues respect for law from its Kantian and rationalist overtones. But however that pans out, putting law more central is certainly warranted. …

For the full comment, and the further interesting comments by Paul Gowder and George Ehrhardt (don’t miss this one, Ehrhardt writes about the invadee’s prior obligation of sympathy for the invader), see the comments to Hanno’s posts (scroll down). Thanks for the terrific discussion.

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