The Department of Legal Philosophy
Legal philosophy has a long tradition in Vienna, dating back to the days of the natural law theorists Karl Anton von Martini (1726–1800) and Franz von Zeiller (1751–1828). During the first half of the twentieth century, Viennese legal philosophy earned itself international acclaim when Hans Kelsen (1881–1973) and his collaborators developed a pronounced and much debated version of legal positivism, the so-called Pure Theory of Law. Owing to the initiative of Gerhard Luf, whose works have contributed considerably to the rehabilitation of practical reason in legal philosophy, the discipline became established as a separate Department in 1985.
To this day, both legal theory and legal philosophy are very much alive in Vienna.
In 2005, the Department of Legal Philosophy was merged with the Department of Law and Religion. It dated back to the founding of the Vienna law faculty and was home to many eminent scholars, such as Paul Joseph von Riegger (1705–1775), a defender of religious toleration, and Max Hussarek von Heinlein (1865–1936), a leading theorist of the legal relation between the state and religious communities. Under the stewardship of Richard Potz, the discipline was expanded into the comprehensive study of law and religion.
This fused unit has been given its current name in 2016.
News
- Nachgefragt. 100 years woman suffrage: Hätte uns mehr gelingen können? Talk with Elisabeth Holzleithner and Eva Weissenberger , public and online live! Campus-Pavillon, Campus der Universität Wien, Hof 1, Spitalgasse 2, 1090 Wien, 06.00 p.m. - 07.30 p.m., 2018 10 02
- Alexander Somek talks about "The real constitution: A reply to James Madison" at WZB (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung), 2018 07 10
- Denkmalrechtstag 2018, 2018 06 26, Juridicum Vienna, organized from the Department of Legal Philosophy together with the Federal Chancellery
- Series of Lectures Women* Human Rights Defenders, Elisabeth Holzleithner talks about "Wo bleiben LesBiSchwule, Trans und Inter?" 2018 06 13, 7.00 p.m. Universität für Angewandte Kunst, Stubenring 3, 1010 Wien
- Rechtspanorama am Juridicum - Ist die Ehe ein Auslaufmodell? Möglicherweise hat der Verfassungsgerichtshof die Weichen neu gestellt. Was folgt aus seiner Entscheidung, ab 2019 sowohl die Ehe als auch die Eingetragene Partnerschaft für alle zu öffnen, gleichgültig ob homo- oder heterosexuell?, Elisabeth Holzleithner at the panel, 2018 06 18, Juridicum
- "Pride" zwischen Verfolgung und Normalität - Gleichgeschlechtliche Liebe, Transgender- und andere Identitäten. Elisabeth Holzleithner spricht mit Dr. Marty Huber, Rechtsberaterin, Queer Base und Johann Kneihs (Moderation): Woran liegt es, was in einer Gesellschaft als normal oder zumindest akzeptabel gesehen wird? Was können/sollen Gesetze regeln. ORF, OE1,Punkt eins, 2018 06 13
- 8. INTIS-conference: "Europa und seine Muslime. Zusammenleben im Schatten von Verschwörungstheorien", International conference at the Juridicum, organized in cooperation of the Department of Legal Philosophy, together with the Institut für den Donauraum und Mitteleuropa (IDM), the Institut für Interkulturelle Islamforschung (INTIS) and the Stadt Wien (Europa und Internationales), 2018 05 05