Lexington Books
Pages: 238
•
Trim: 6½ x 9½
978-0-7391-7815-7 • Hardback • December 2012 • $128.00 • (£98.00)
978-0-7391-9730-1 • Paperback • August 2014 • $58.99 • (£45.00)
978-0-7391-7816-4 • eBook • December 2012 • $56.00 • (£43.00)
Sean Wilson is an assistant professor at Wright State University.
Chapter 1: Wittgenstein, Law and Originalism
Part I: Interpreting the Constitution
Chapter 2: Obeying Flexible Commands
Chapter 3: Is There a Fixed Meaning?
Chapter 4: Public Meaning v. Meaning as Use
Chapter 5: The Flexible Constitution
Chapter 6: Structuralism and Polysemy
Chapter 7: Law as Connoisseur Judgment
Part II: Understanding Originalism
Chapter 8: The Philosophy of Framers’ Intent
Chapter 9: Why Framers’ Intent is Flawed
Chapter 10: The New Originalism
Chapter 11: The Constitution as Old Society
Chapter 12: Cultural Construction
Chapter 13: What Originalism Really Is
Appendix: The Philosophical Investigation
[This is] an excellent book which advances a new Wittgensteinian theory of constitutional interpretation.
— George Martinez, Southern Methodist University
From Wittgenstein to connoisseur judgment, this book reimagines basic issues in constitutional interpretation. It suggests new forms for understanding ongoing debates and provides new maps for negotiating them.
— John Brigham, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
In The Flexible Constitution, Sean Wilson provides a welcome rebuttal to the modern originalist movement in constitutional theory. In straightforward and elegant prose, Wilson reminds us that ordinary language—which the Constitution certainly purports to employ—cannot provide the kind of determinate meanings that make a strong form of originalism possible. All in all, the book is a philosophically rigorous counterpoint to the often oversimplified national debate about constitutional interpretation.
— Ian Bartrum, William S. Boyd School of Law, UNLV
Wilson places himself among relatively few, including Brigham, who seem to not simply comprehend Wittgenstein but can explain it masterfully.
— Aaron R.S. Lorenz, Ramapo College
The Flexible Constitution brings Wittgenstein's analysis of language-meaning to constitutional theory, showing how many common criticisms of originalism can find their home in that analysis. Its conclusions that constitutional law is best seen through an esthetic lens and that connoisseur judgments are central to determining the constitution's meaning opens a provocative line of inquiry that I hope other scholars will follow.
— Mark Tushnet, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Sean Wilson's clearly-written and lucidly organized book demonstrates the failings of originalist theory. His major contribution is in his use of the concept of "connoisseur judgment," which he draws from Wittgenstein's aesthetics to show how the ordinary language of the Constitution can and should be interpreted. I find his conclusion compelling: originialism is a distraction from the proper goal of cultivating connoisseur judgment.
— Francis J. Mootz III, University of the Pacific