Legal concepts as inferential nodes and ontological categories |
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Authors: | Giovanni Sartor |
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Affiliation: | (1) European University Institute, Florence and Cirsfid, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy |
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Abstract: | I shall compare two views of legal concepts: as nodes in inferential nets and as categories in an ontology (a conceptual architecture).
Firstly, I shall introduce the inferential approach, consider its implications, and distinguish the mere possession of an
inferentially defined concept from the belief in the concept’s applicability, which also involves the acceptance of the concept’s
constitutive inferences. For making this distinction, the inferential and eliminative analysis of legal concepts proposed
by Alf Ross will be connected to the views on theoretical concepts in science advanced by Frank Ramsey and Rudolf Carnap.
Consequently, the mere comprehension of a legal concept will be distinguished from the application of the concept to a particular
legal system, since application presupposes a doctrinal commitment, namely, the belief that the inferences constituting the
concept hold in that system. Then, I shall consider how concepts can be characterised by defining the corresponding terms
and placing them within an ontology. Finally, I shall argue that there is a tension between the inferential and the ontological
approach, but that both need to be taken into account, to capture the meaning and the cognitive function of legal concepts. |
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