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György Lukács and a Marxist Theory of Law: Origins and Development of Juridical Complex, Language and Interpretation


ISBN13: 9781041280149
To be Published: August 2026
Publisher: Routledge
Country of Publication: UK
Format: Hardback
Price: £155.00





This book rethinks the Marxist critique of law by exploring the late works of Hungarian philosopher György Lukács. It argues that law cannot be fully grasped through rigid legal categories alone; instead, it must be examined within the wider context of social reproduction, shaped by language, politics, and ideology.

By engaging critically with major legal theorists like Kelsen, Hart, and Dworkin, Vitor Bartoletti Sartori shows how Lukács’s philosophy offers a deeper, more flexible framework for understanding legal thought in complex societies. He challenges dominant Marxist approaches, especially the Pachukanian tradition, and highlights the need for a more open-ended framework for understanding law, ideology, and social complexity.

Ideal for scholars in legal theory, philosophy, and social thought, György Lukács and the Marxist Approach to Theory of Law bridges classical Marxist debates with contemporary concerns and offers fresh insight into ideology, interpretation, and the role of Law in shaping society.

Subjects:
Jurisprudence
Contents:
Preface
Introduction

Part I: Lukács, the ontology of social being and the ontological critique of law
1. Law, the relative autonomy of social complexes in social reproduction and the development of legal form and specificity
2. Relative autonomy of the spheres of social being, reproduction and specialization of social complexes: the case of law and its functioning
3. Legal mirroring and method in the face of positivist manipulation
4. Rule of law, legal manipulation and class struggle
5. Morals, ethics, law and everyday life
6. Language, theory of law and Class Struggle

Part II: On the foundations of today’s theory of law – contribution to the critique of legal positivism and its dialogue with the philosophy of language and philosophical hermeneutics
7. On the indispensability of an immanent critique of theory of law and the Lukácsian foundations for the critique of law
8. Kelsen and theory of law: limited reason and legal positivism
9. Hart and legal positivism from World War II to the 1960s: from the delimitation of the object of pure theory to the abundant use of the philosophy of language
10. Dworkin, philosophy of language, philosophical hermeneutics and the aestheticization of law

Conclusion: towards a Marxist theory of law?