Criticism
The Sprit of the Law by Malik Wilson
December 15, 2025
Malik Wilson’s The Spirit of the Law explores the difference between a ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ law – that is to say, one seemingly penned from time immemorial and one subject to nuanced change. He describes how a hard law comes with an acceptance of human weakness, and need, and lack, and requires humility and moral architecture to determine locales of enjoining. Success in this area is not to the swift, bright, or wealthy, but to the honest and lowly. A soft law on the other hand, grants creative powers, and strength, even where it might be lacking. A hard law says ‘I know what I am’, a soft law says, ‘I believe in what I might be’. What we use to construct our own moral and civic possibilities will eventually tell the tale, and the house we build will be proven in time.