Law and its discontents: A philosophical constellation of culture in EU law

This chapter proposes a legal-philosophical constellation around the concept of culture, particularly in the context of EU law. It aims to establish whether EU law can accommodate the idiosyncrasy or particularity of culture. The analysis starts with a critical understanding of liberalism as the mainstream political and moral philosophy in the EU, which separates form from content and procedure from substance. Liberalism focuses on the protection and enhancement of individual freedom and hinges on rights that are supposedly natural and universal. Culture, on the other hand, develops as the form-of-life of a particular community and is in essence not universal in nature. The chapter explains the political dialectic and dynamic that mediates between the concepts of (EU) law and culture.