Living the Norms: Philosophical Reflections on Life, Law and Morality offers an intervention in law and morality to understand the evolving and transformative perspectives on norms and forms of life. The steady and diverse philosophical intervention in modern disciplinary society has posed provocative questions about societal norms, laws and forms of life. Living these norms brings together the intersections between moral, political and legal discourses.
This edited volume engages with contributions from academics and researchers across diverse fields to examine contemporary issues and present new studies on the evolving perspectives on life, law and morality. The book includes chapters on jurisprudence, justice, gender, artificial intelligence, systems of faith, cultural difference, marginalization, traditional knowledge and governance. It will be of interest to students and scholars of law, philosophy, cultural studies, gender studies and social sciences.
Central to this edited book is an exploration of the evolving perspectives of life, law and morality. Since humans live in a ‘polis’ or inhabit a shared societal space, it requires norms and principles, rights and legislation for life and living. However, the norms and principles, as well as legal and political definitions, do not exist in isolation from the ideas, values and philosophical frameworks. As human life has evolved from primitive societies to the modern world, norms and principles have evolved in many ways. Hence, the systems of law and morality are neither straightforward nor uncontested. It involves a complex process and interplay between ethical principles, social and cultural values, legal and political ideas and power relations. It implies the dynamic relationship between individuals and societal expectations.
Bringing together academics and researchers from diverse fields, the book offers fresh insights into pressing contemporary issues including marginalization, justice, governance, faith, gender, sexuality, artificial intelligence and moral agency. The book not only provides an intervention into law and morality but also challenges and re-examines existing societal norms and their conceptual frameworks. Each of the eleven chapters of this volume foregrounds a specific issue, continues with a detailed analysis and concludes with a brief assessment. The book will be valuable for students and researchers of law, humanities and social sciences.
Here is an excerpt from the book:
Introduction
This edited volume results from a shared understanding that bringing philosophy and jurisprudence together can help address contemporary questions about human life within the legal and normative frameworks. The steady and diverse philosophical intervention in modern disciplinary society has posed provocative questions about societal norms, laws and forms of life. Living the norms results from the intersections between moral, political and legal discourses. It implies the dynamic relationship between individuals and societal expectations. Since humans live in a ‘polis’ or inhabit a shared societal space, it requires norms and principles, rights and legislation for life and living. However, the norms and principles, as well as legal and political definitions, do not exist in isolation from the ideas, values and philosophical frameworks. As human life has evolved from primitive societies to the modern world, norms and principles have evolved in many ways; hence, the systems of law and morality are neither straightforward nor uncontested. It involves a complex process and interplay between ethical principles, social and cultural values, legal and political ideas and power relations.
Life amidst norms and laws raises a number of problems. These concern the relationship between law and morality, the logical and moral status of propositions of law, the possibility of separating adjudication from politics, rootedness of law in notions of justice and the common good and the distinction between law and organized force. Philosophers from Socrates to the present day have reflected on the relationship between ‘might’ and ‘right’ and have asked whether law is simply a piece of decree issued by those enjoying a monopoly of power, or whether it is an expression of moral right which serves to concretize the abstract requirements of justice. However, in more recent times, these fundamental issues have from the circumstances of modernity acquired a peculiar salience and a distinctive character. Modernity has added new dimensions to these questions, with law playing a central role in human life. This has given rise to fresh inquiries and reinterpretations, underscoring the need to re-examine the relationship between law, justice and the common good. In an era of rapid social, political and technological change, the traditional boundaries between life, law and morality are increasingly blurred. As we witness the emergence of new perspectives on life and rights, such as non-human life (ecology, aquatic life), animal rights, digital rights, gender justice, ecological justice and artificial intelligence, we are forced to re-examine our understanding of life, law and morality beyond human-centric frameworks. The debates over anthropocentrism and biocentrism/ecocentrism further pose a number of challenges to both the philosophical and legal disciplines, suggesting that the doctrine of the sanctity of human life and our traditional values are in deep trouble. There is an urgent need to replace our worldviews regarding life, death, societal norms, values and practices. Such growing concerns at the present are affecting the horizon of thinking and interpretations.
This edited volume engages with contributions from academics and researchers across diverse fields to examine contemporary issues and present new studies on the evolving perspectives on life, law and morality. It is our immense pleasure and joy to present this edited volume, comprising eleven chapters. Each chapter foregrounds a specific issue, continues with a detailed analysis, and concludes with a brief assessment.
In the first chapter, Mirza Juned Beg, discusses law at a more conceptual level, arguing that the law is not a technical but a moral endeavour, reflecting society’s values and aspirations towards justice. By examining the core philosophical and ethical principles of law, the chapter considers how law transcends the rules and institutions. Emphasizing the growing distance between law and justice and the ongoing shifting of social context, the chapter underscores the importance of judicial interpretation as a key example of how principles become action. The chapter concludes that understanding the philosophy of law is essential for assessing the role of law and the legal system in creating a just and fair society.
The second chapter, authored by Bodhendra Kumar, discusses the idea of justice in relation to the prison system of modern disciplinary society. The chapter highlights the problems of penal systems and what they lack in delivering justice. As modern-day penal systems are primarily concerned with punishment, the chapter offers restorative justice as an alternative framework. Grounding in Buddhist ethics – particularly through compassion (karuna) – the author intends to provide a foundation for restorative justice, which primarily focuses on ‘healing’ rather than punishment. In doing so, the author draws on the moral philosophies of Western philosophers and then focuses on the teachings of the Buddha, the Dhammapada and other Buddhist texts. Having examined the challenges and possibilities of grounding justice in compassion, the chapter concludes that compassion possesses normative authority, that Buddhist ethics provides a coherent articulation of this authority and that the methods of mindfulness meditation and cultivating the brahmaviharas are secular and result-oriented.
In the third chapter, Bhawna Arora and Krishna Sharma, draw attention to the issues of sexuality, gender inclusion and gender justice by analysing various legislations, Supreme Court and High Court proceedings and relevant statistics and reports. As society progresses towards more modern frameworks, the chapter argues that the traditional binaries of human identity are being challenged by a nuanced understanding of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ as distinct conceptions. Hence, there is a need to extend the percolation of this gender-sex distinction within the larger framework of legislative policymaking in India. In conclusion, the authors advocate for a gender-based jurisprudence to address growing concerns and ensure inclusive policymaking.
The fourth chapter, authored by Faisal Mahmood and Ali Kaif, explores the emerging role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the field of governance and moral philosophy by reassessing traditional ethical theories. The chapter revolves around the question of whether agentic AI can be integrated within the moral and legal frameworks. Drawing on classical moral philosophy, the chapter examines Kant’s conception of autonomy, Hume’s moral sentimentalism, Locke’s theory of personhood and Aristotle’s account of practical wisdom (phronesis), to demonstrate that artificial systems, despite their capacity to simulate rational and objective deliberation, lack the moral self-legislation, experiential judgement, affective motivation and self-consciousness necessary for moral agency.
The fifth chapter, written by Abida Begum, provides a careful analysis of faith, drawing attention to the works of Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish existentialist philosopher. The chapter examines the conflict between faith and reason, arguing that faith is purely subjective but a reasonable choice. In a Kierkegaardian sense, the author further argues that faith is a choice that requires a private relationship with God, which is not possible through a crowd, as the mass society prioritizes and promotes untruth and cowardice over individual responsibility, which the author claims is an enemy of true or authentic faith. The chapter concludes that faith is not rational, since it transcends the limits of rational inquiry, however a person’s choosing of faith cannot be classified as an unreasonable choice.
In the sixth chapter, Sara Mushtaq, examines the tension that arises from the ideology of multiculturalism within a liberal political framework, particularly from the standpoint of feminist philosophers concerned with gender equality. The chapter critically analyses certain cultural practices operating in different social, legal and political arenas that can lead to the marginalization and oppression of women within their own communities. The analysis concludes that, despite its commitment to diversity and tolerance, multiculturalism reveals serious normative limitations that it fails to address adequately in intra-group inequalities. Thus, the chapter draws attention to the principle of difference as essential to the politics of recognition and gender equality as a central normative principle.
The seventh chapter, written by Shahidul Hoque, presents a critical analysis of the established social ‘order’. Drawing on the works of postmodern philosopher Michel Foucault, the chapter examines the techniques of marginalization and social exclusion. Central to this chapter is the idea of what it means to live outside the norms and whether doing so inevitably leads to marginalization or social exclusion. Thus, the chapter introduces some of the ways in which marginalization occurs. It also argues that marginalization is not identical to social exclusion. Instead, it is a continuous process, existing in the form of a ‘silent war’, not fought on battlefields but through society. Further, the chapter claims, living outside the order is not inherently a sign of abnormality or irrationality; rather, it often represents a conscious resistance by those who refuse to conform to ready-made standards dictated by power structures. The chapter concludes that ‘living outside the norms’ functions as a mechanism of marginalization – a principle of ‘othering’ used to maintain the boundaries of the social order.
In chapter eight, Aijaj Ahmed Raj and Syeda Sabina Yasmin, explore the possibilities for laws and policies to protect ‘traditional knowledge’ (TK) in the country by analysing the relevant legal framework and case studies, highlighting the extent of coverage and its shortcomings. The chapter examines the protection of traditional knowledge within the existing intellectual property (IP) frameworks. Drawing attention to different sui generis regimes, namely, Panama, the Philippines and Kenya, the chapter suggests measures for an exclusive legislation on sui generis TK in India that encompasses community custodianship, the recognition of customary law as a source of applicable norms, mandatory free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) and benefit-sharing and embeds multilevel governance connecting national authorities, state bodies, biodiversity management committees and indigenous institutions.
In the ninth chapter, Mayurakhi Sonowal, outlines the historical development of ‘tort law’ and its significance in the context of justice and legal institutions. The chapter places tort law in its broader context to address historical developments and argues that legal doctrines are not limited to technical rules, but are instead manifestations of shared values. Further, it explores some of the most important controversies: individual and collective responsibility, fault and strict liability and compensation and deterrence. It applies tort law in its context within law-making institutions, studying the judiciary as interpreters of justice, issues of access and bias, and comparative views of common law and civil law systems. Lastly, modern problems are also discussed, including technological evils, environmental accountability and global equity. The chapter concludes that tort law is not only a remedial system but also a moral conversation embedded within legal institutions, connecting philosophy to practice and fashioning the moral fabric of society in response to the changing needs of justice.
The tenth chapter, written by Alvina Ali, addresses the current implementation and future potential of artificial intelligence (AI) within the Indian legal system. The chapter provides a detailed account of digitalization in judiciary and other fields where AI is being implemented. It explores how existing AI technologies can resolve specific bottlenecks in the Indian legal framework and examines the scope for integrating this driving force further. Ultimately, the chapter seeks to answer a pivotal question: can the very system expected to regulate this dominant technology also draw power from it?
The eleventh chapter by Nishant Nayan and Ashish Nayan offers a critical assessment of the interaction between conscience and governance, analysing how moral principles, frameworks, political power and spiritual authority are interwoven in their manifestation in contemporary society. As the demographics and value systems of contemporary democratic institutions have evolved, the conflict between the individual conscience and society-based governance has become increasingly salient, raising fundamental questions about the nature of authority, legitimacy and moral obligations. The chapter thus discusses the philosophical consideration of moral authority versus legal authority. Lastly, the chapter presents propositions for mechanisms of beneficial discourse between sources of power, with particular emphasis on the importance of democracy, ethics of governance through leadership, as well as institutional governance.
At last, we consider the value of each chapter and hope that a volume of this kind will be helpful to a wide variety of readers, whether they be students in an academic environment or those with a more general interest in reading. The chapter’s assessments are not intended to offer final judgements, but rather aimed to stimulate further critical thought. They invite scholars to articulate their own interpretations and to engage in further discussion.
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