ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the themes that have been most prominent in the radical writings in recent decades and how they relate to the origins of modernity, and considers the responses in defence of mainstream jurisprudence and its philosophical basis. For the radical critics who conceptualise and attack 'modernity' as a whole, however, the real problem lies in the complete absence of justification or grounding to give the law and its declared rights any authority at all. Radical feminists who reject the traditional liberal attempts to extend the recognition of equality of basic political and civil rights to women tend to do so because they regard the liberal conception of the individual as inherently distorted and deeply biased towards masculinity. The problems confronted and the variety of positions adopted by contemporary feminists writing about law should be seen in the light of their reactions to Enlightenment liberal tradition.
