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Chapter2
PhilosophyofLawandTheoryofLaw
[?]Whatisthephilosophyoflaw?
Philosophyoflawisoneofthegeneralfieldsoflegalstudies.Its
status,however,isnotultimatelyclear.Accordingtosome,itis
partofphilosophy;accordingtoothers,itispartoflegalstudies.
Theeternalquestionalsoarises,astowhetherthephilosophy
oflaw,justlikephilosophyingeneral,isscholarship/science,or
whetheritissomethingmore:thatis,aspeciesofreectionon
law,onethatdoesnotnecessaryfitintoanyacceptedparadigm
ofscholarship/science.Itismostfrequentlyassociatedwithother
formsofgeneralresearchintothelaw,suchasjurisprudenceor
thetheoryoflaw.Inthissense,itsstatusmaydependsometimes,
ononehand,fromthestatusoftheindividualthatpracticesit
(philosopher,lawyer,politicalscientist,etc.),and,ontheother
hand,whetherthestressisplacedonphilosophyoronlaw.Ifthe
latteristhecase,thensuchreectioncanproceedHfromphiloso-
phytowardlaw”or,contrariwise,Hfromlawtowardphilosophy.”
ThepracticeofphilosophyoflawHfromphilosophytowardlaw”
ismostfrequentlylinkedwiththespecifictypeofphilosophythat
isappliedinresearchintolaw-Existentialism,phenomenology,
Hegelianphilosophy,hermeneutics,Kantianphilosophy,Marx-
ism,orThomistphilosophy,etc.Inturn,thepracticeofthephi-
losophyoflawHfromlawtowardphilosophy”doesnotentailan
acceptanceoftheassumptionsofagivenphilosophicalschool,
andtendsrathertowardavariedconceptionofthenatureofthe
law,oftheconditionsandlimitsofitsapplication,ofitsrelation
toothernormativesystems,ofitssocialfunctions,etc.(forex-
ample,thelawofnature,legalpositivism,andlegalrealism).
Theborderbetweenthephilosophyoflawandthetheoryof
lawisextremelyuid.Despitethis,manycontemporarystudies
clearlydistinguishintheirverytitlesthesetwoconcepts-both
inPolishandinworld-widelegalstudies.However,itishardto
maintainthatinsuchstudiesanypreciseorclearborderisestab-
CHAPTER2.PHILOSOPHYOFLAWANDTHEORYOFLAW
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