Open AccessNorms and Novelty: Reflections on Legal Knowledge, Norms and Evolutionary Systems
Author(s) -
Giovanni Tuzet
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
archiwum filozofii prawa i filozofii społecznej
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2082-3304
DOI - 10.36280/afpifs.2021.2.108
Subject(s) - novelty , legal realism , inference , realm , process (computing) , legal profession , epistemology , face (sociological concept) , sociology , political science , law , psychology , computer science , social psychology , philosophy , social science , operating system
The paper has three sub-topics: legal knowledge, legal norms, and evolutionary systems. The three are interconnected. A reflection on the nature of legal knowledge throws light on the nature of legal norms. Legal knowledge is largely a posteriori and it is so because norms are largely contingent. Being a realm of continual change, law has novelty as a fundamental feature. The process of legal change is not driven by chance but by the attempt to face ever new problems and changing circumstances. This supports a view of legal systems as adaptive and evolutionary, as classical pragmatism suggested. However, inference can give some a priori legal knowledge.