Hypothek im überpositiven Recht aufnimmt.

23:35 Sep 15, 2014 

So the phrase in question relates to "Gesellschaft" or society, yes? "nur unzureichend integrierte Hypothek im überpositiven Recht aufnimmt" relates to society, I think. That means that the "dass" phrase is left without an ending verb. That IS abstract. Looks like you have the task of making the translation more complete than the original. Literary license is warranted?
I agree that it's natural law, not positive law.

03:15 Sep 14, 2014 

It is all about abstract notions, but the "mortgage" metaphor is quite plain. You could call it taking out a loan. It is quite commonly said in German philosophical discourse that thinkers spend intellectual capital that is not theirs.

10:37 Sep 13, 2014 

Thank you for this discussion. I am unfortunately not sure what Hypothek means in this sense. It is a published article that has no (other) mistakes in it so I doubt that he meant to write Hypothese...
I will try to incorporate what Horst Huber said.
(Note to self - NEVER agree to translate a philosophy text if you haven't studied it!) ;)

18:54 Sep 12, 2014 

Could Hypothek be a mistake for Hypothese?

18:50 Sep 12, 2014 

First of all, my commiserations at having to translate this!
Paul implies, and German Wikipedia actually says, that "überpositives Recht" is the same as natural law:
"Der Gegenbegriff [of Positives Recht] ist das überpositive Recht oder Naturrecht".
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positives_Recht
It's "überpositiv" because it transcends human laws.
I'm still struggling with the second half of the paragraph, but I think this is what the first half means:

"Here, Dewey implies that the incorporation within his pragmatic educational philosophy of fundamental assumptions about human rights in a plural society..."

15:33 Sep 12, 2014 

The metaphor says that an unsecured mortgage is taken on, from the speculative realm beyond (supra not super) all positive law. It is inadequately grounded in the educational theories of pragmatism (the philosphy of Dewey at al).

14:52 Sep 12, 2014 

Best wishes, S

14:48 Sep 12, 2014 

Hi, Paul, yes, of course Natural Law would be a natural solution, but as a translator, I would hesitate to make the substitution without consulting the author!

14:37 Sep 12, 2014 

Legal theory often distinguishes between natural law and positive law.

Oversimplifying somewhat, positive law is principally"man-made" law

Natural law stands for rules and principles derived from "nature", often argued to be universal.

When German writers talk of überpositives Recht, this is often translated as Sarah Tolley has pointed out as "supra-positive law". In many cases, supra-positive law can be equated with natural law.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_law