About The Workshop
SW 89- Individuality and Collectivism in Law
Convenors: Altan Heper; Fatma Süzgün Şahin; Serdar Ünver
Contact: serdarunvr@gmail.com
Individuality and collectivism are not legal concepts in themselves. However, they can be linked to the law and, in particular, have several points of contact with legal discourse.
Whilst some legal systems are described as more individualistic, others are described as more collectivist. East Asian societies are usually classified as more collectivist. In contrast, Western European societies are predominantly characterised as individualistic. What are the individualistic features of a legal system? What are the collectivist features of a legal system? What factors make a legal system individualistic or collectivist?
The pair of concepts, individuality and collectivity, plays an important role in law. Law reflects on the tension between individual interests and collective interests. Social values and cultural backgrounds are formative in this regard.
Among cultural scholars, individualism and collectivism have long been established cultural dimensions. Among legal scholars, research into the relationship between individualism and collectivism in relation to law is relatively new. Most research concerns comparative law.
Certainly, there is no society or legal system today that is purely collectivist or purely individualistic. , Rather, we observe societies and legal systems that incorporate both elements of this pair of concepts, although, depending on the society and legal system in question, they are characterised either more strongly by collectivism or by individualism. The degree to which these characteristics are expressed varies across different areas of law and sub-fields; for example, administrative law tends to be more collectivist, whilst civil law tends to be more individualistic. It has long been established in anthropology that human beings are social creatures. Aristotle already described humans as social beings. Humans depend on community with other humans. The law regulates human behaviour in society. On the one hand, the law protects the rights of the individual against self-serving collectives such as the state, the people, society and the family; on the other hand, the law restricts the individual rights in relation to the collective, such as the state, the people, society and the family. Consequently, the elements of this dichotomy can be found in varying degrees of intensity in every area of law.
This special workshop aims to address the topic from the perspectives of legal philosophy, legal theory and comparative law. In doing so, concepts such as autonomy, self-determination, personal responsibility, normativ individualism, colective interests, paternalism and communatarism will be critically examined.
The workshop will be held in Turkish.
