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Transcending the discovery-justification dichotomy

Transcending the discovery-justification dichotomy
Transcending the discovery-justification dichotomy
This essay examines judicial decision-making from the perspective of Whiteheadian 'process philosophy'. As such, it seeks to demonstrate how the explanatory categories of process thought can be applied to law and legal reasoning in such a way as to expose the nature of the processes that constitute their development. The essay begins with a description of the judicial task drawn from contemporary theorising about legal argumentation, identified in terms of the separation of contexts of decisionmaking: discovery and justification. In light of this discussion, the essay then adopts Whiteheadian terminology to provide the basis for an alternative understanding and description of the way that a discrete instance of judicial decision-making develops and is maintained within the decision-making process. In this way, independent of any debate over the separation of contexts, the essay seeks not only to expose and unpack the otherwise hidden micro-processes that contribute to and constitute a legal decision but also, by utilising the same conceptual categories of Whiteheadian process thought, to provide a coherent and consistent account of the macro-processes more commonly observed on the level of law as a social realty. The essay argues that the explanatory power of the categoreal scheme of process thought provides a better tool for understanding these relations on all levels.
0952-8059
123-141
MacLean, James
7ecb7975-746f-4806-9c4f-43efe3527980
MacLean, James
7ecb7975-746f-4806-9c4f-43efe3527980

MacLean, James (2012) Transcending the discovery-justification dichotomy. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law, 25 (1), 123-141. (doi:10.1007/s11196-011-9244-7).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This essay examines judicial decision-making from the perspective of Whiteheadian 'process philosophy'. As such, it seeks to demonstrate how the explanatory categories of process thought can be applied to law and legal reasoning in such a way as to expose the nature of the processes that constitute their development. The essay begins with a description of the judicial task drawn from contemporary theorising about legal argumentation, identified in terms of the separation of contexts of decisionmaking: discovery and justification. In light of this discussion, the essay then adopts Whiteheadian terminology to provide the basis for an alternative understanding and description of the way that a discrete instance of judicial decision-making develops and is maintained within the decision-making process. In this way, independent of any debate over the separation of contexts, the essay seeks not only to expose and unpack the otherwise hidden micro-processes that contribute to and constitute a legal decision but also, by utilising the same conceptual categories of Whiteheadian process thought, to provide a coherent and consistent account of the macro-processes more commonly observed on the level of law as a social realty. The essay argues that the explanatory power of the categoreal scheme of process thought provides a better tool for understanding these relations on all levels.

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Published date: 2012
Organisations: Southampton Law School

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Local EPrints ID: 199501
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/199501
ISSN: 0952-8059
PURE UUID: a8e55bb2-5cfe-4677-91d9-764986ce3d66

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Date deposited: 18 Oct 2011 11:22
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 04:16

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Author: James MacLean

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