Vulnerability as a Political and Legal Foundation. Review of Vulnerability Theory and the Trinity Lectures by Martha A. Fineman (Bristol: Bristol University Press, 2025), 131 pages.
Book review of: Martha A. Fineman (2025). Vulnerability Theory and the Trinity Lectures . Bristol: Bristol University Press.
Keywords:
Vulnerability Theory, Martha A. Fineman, Critique of Liberal SubjectivityAbstract
This review discusses Vulnerability Theory and the Trinity Lectures by Martha A. Fineman, in which the author proposes a theory of vulnerability as a political and legal foundation. Through a critique of liberalism and the autonomous individual paradigm, Fineman argues that vulnerability is a universal condition requiring active institutional response. She introduces concepts such as derived dependency, resilience, and collective harm, and challenges formal equality as a criterion of justice. Although her proposal offers a strong theoretical framework, it faces conceptual and procedural challenges, particularly regarding the operationalization of its notions and the absence of a democratic theory of institutional change. Nevertheless, the work makes a significant contribution to contemporary legal thought and opens new avenues for research on structural justice, institutional design, and normative sensitivity to the human condition.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Carlos Hugo González Bellene
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