Contests about Natural Law in Early Enlightenment Copenhagen

This article discusses the works of the first two lecturers on natural law in Copenhagen, Henrik Weghorst and Christian Reitzer. Contrary to the existing scholarship which characterises their works as derivative of either Grotius or Pufendorf, the article argues that the character and significance of these works can only be grasped when understood in light of the local intellectual traditions which they built upon. Seen against this background, it becomes clear that Weghorst and Reitzer developed significantly different theories of natural law, disagreeing on such fundamental issues as the definition of law, the moral good, and the role of sociality in natural law. Following a tradition of Christian natural law in Kiel, Weghorst developed a theory of natural law fundamentally critical of the secularising theories of Grotius and Pufendorf, while Reitzer followed Pufendorf and his disciple Christian Thomasius in Halle. The article concludes by indicating how Weghorst’s and Reitzer’s works established the framework for discussions of natural law in the first decades of the eighteenth century, suggesting the need for further research into the significance of natural law for the early enlightenment in Denmark–Norway.     

Planning the post‐political city: exploring public participation in the contemporary Australian city

This special section examines the possibility of meaningful debate and contestation over urban decisions and futures in politically constrained contexts. In doing so, it moves with the post‐political times: critically examining the proliferation of deliberative mechanisms; identifying the informal assemblages of diverse actors taking on new roles in urban socio‐spatial justice; and illuminating the spaces where informal and formal planning processes meet. These questions are particularly pertinent for understanding the processes shaping Australian cities and public participation today.     

Functional analysis of prehistoric flint tools by high-power microscopy: A review of West European research

The present paper is a review of the functional analysis of prehistoric flint tool edges by means of high-power microscopy. The article, which focuses exclusively on West European research, discusses a series of methodological issues and problems related to the development and distinctiveness of the so-called wear polishes, produced by the various materials with which prehistoric stone tools came in contact. A selection of functional observations on tool use from the Upper Paleolithic, the Mesolithic, and the Neolithic periods is presented. The archaeological part of the review is concerned with two trends in functional analysis, namely, (1) controlled site-specific studies with different levels of foci and (2) thematic studies of particular tool types, e.g., endscrapers, burins, and unmodified débitage. Finally, problems concerning the interpretation of hafting and of multiple tool use are discussed.