Creon's Ghost Law Justice and the Humanities [Hardcover]

Creon's Ghostexamines the enduring problem of the relationship between man's law and a higher law from the perspective of core humanities texts and through discussion of hotly debated contemporary legal conundrums. Today, such issues as intelligent design in school curricula, same-sex marriage, and faith-based government grants are all examples of the interaction between man's law and some other set of moral principles. As these debates are considered in this book, the author uses texts such asAntigoneand Plato'sRepublicand pairs them with the most important jurisprudence texts of the 20th century to explore different approaches to the contemporary conflict or court ruling under consideration.

Creon's Ghostdemonstrates that the humanities can both illuminate our understanding of contemporary problems and that classic texts can be read alongside jurisprudential texts, thus enriching our understanding of and appreciation for law.

This book revisits an old and enduring problem--the conflict between the law of the state and higher law. It does so in a bracing and fresh way, using classic humanities texts, legal philosophy, and legal cases to illustrate how humans have engaged and are engaging in an ongoing struggle for justice. Tomain is a subtle and sophisticated reader and an expert practitioner of interdisciplinary study. As a result, he is able to call our attention to continuities and discontinuities in the ways societies have confronted the tension between what the state asks of us and what our moral scruples demand from us. In doing so he makes a truly valuable contribution to the literature.
--Austin Sarat,
Amherst College

Creon's Ghostis like a great wave that carries its readers across centuries of argument about the relationship between our laws and our moral convictions. It is a thrilling and fascinating ride the whole way through. Joseph Tomain has a rare gift forlÃ>