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Epistemological Perspectives in Legal Theory
Author(s) -
HOECKE MARK VAN,
OST FRANÇOIS
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
ratio juris
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.344
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1467-9337
pISSN - 0952-1917
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9337.1993.tb00136.x
Subject(s) - epistemology , criticism , ideology , object (grammar) , point (geometry) , philosophy of science , sociology , legal science , philosophy , law , political science , politics , mathematics , linguistics , geometry
The authors deal with several important epistemological problems in legal theory. The Nineteenth century background is analyzed from the emergence of legal science freed from the constraints of natural law and built on the model of the empirical sciences. The authors show how this science of law has been influenced by the social sciences and trends in ideological criticism throughout the Twentieth century. The epistemological question central to legal science is tackled, i.e., what kind of “epistemological break” should there be with regard to the object studied? To answer this question, the authors plead for the adoption of a “moderate external point of view” which bears in mind lawyers' “internal point of view.”