Law and the Art of Representation | Texas Lawyer - Law.com
A recent essay on Thomas Mann by Christopher Beta reminded me of the sharp distinction—opposition even—that Mann drew between “civilization” and “culture,” terms that we often treat as synonymous. For Mann, civilization involves the taming of baser human impulses via universalizing reason and morals; culture sublimates them into particular artistic expression. I take Mann’s point, but it set me to wondering about the place and concept of law, which is commonly thought of as a (maybe even “the”) hallmark of civilization. Perhaps instead of falling on one side or the other, law adds something to both.
In The Birth of Tragedy, Freidrich Nietzsche invoked two sons of Zeus, Apollo and Dionysus, as a way of explaining the power of the great Greek tragedies like Antigone and Oedipus Rex. For the Greeks, Apollo represented enlightenment and reason whereas Dionysus represented ecstasy and intoxication. Nietzsche believed that the tragedies draw their power from a coincidence of Apollonian and Dionysian artistic impulses. It seems to me that law may likewise be forged in the entwinement of the rational and the emotional.
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source: https://www.law.com/texaslawyer/2021/12/13/law-and-the-art-of-representation/
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