The Normative Force of Time and the Temporal Force of the Normative
Law and the Crisis of the Modern Time Regime
Abstract
The modern time regime was constituted by the common belief in an open future promising progress and growth. Modern law has been adapted to these temporalities and founded on similar paradigms. Positivist law is strictly separated from nature, subject to permanent change and legitimated solely by human will and ratio. Since the 1970s the modern time regime has been out of joint. Due to multiple crises societies now tend to expect a limited future, some even fear apocalyptic scenarios. This change in future expectations has triggered cultural turns having an impact on the law. The Anthropocene demands law to be re-orientated to natural events. Digitalization raises legal debates about how to make future predictions and about the extent to which data about the past may be stored and when it should be forgotten. Since the future seems to hold no promise of improvement anymore, societies turn back to their past. The law is supposed to solve the arising conflicts over past injustice. This article aims to investigate these changes in legal paradigms and to elaborate on the role that the law could play in repairing the modern time regime.
Keywords
Zeit | Zukunft | Krise | Anthropozän | Affirmative Action | Recht auf Vergessen | Time | future | crisis | Anthropocene | affirmative action | right to be forgotten