Lex erotica? From interpretation to composition
Abstract
This phrase about infinite regress was popularized by Bertrand Russell who recounts the story of a woman who challenges a cosmologist's explanation of the world during a lecture by stating that the world rests on the back of a giant turtle.When the lecturer asks what the turtle stands on, she retorts: 'Sorry, professor, but it's turtles all the way down.'This idea has been taken up in critical pedagogy to demonstrate the power of interpretation in global governance, as in David Kennedy's Global Law & Governance LLM seminar at Harvard Law School which the author had the pleasure of auditing and teaching on from 2019-2021.4
Fields of Study & Subjects
Legal Language and Interpretation
International Law and Human Rights
Comparative and International Law Studies
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Leiden Journal of International Law
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1–7
- Publication date
- 28 January 2026
- Language
- EN