Original scientific paper
Thought Experiments in the Theory of Law: The Imaginary Scenarios in Hart’s The Concept of Law
Miomir Matulović
; University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
H. L. A. Hart’s The Concept of Law is an important and infl uential work
in the modern philosophy and theory of law. In it, Hart introduced and
discussed three imaginary scenarios: the absolute monarchy under the
Rex dynasty; the pre-legal society governed by primary rules of obligation;
and the worlds in which rules would be different from those in our actual
world. Although Hart did not use the expression “thought experiments”
in his work, some of his interpreters refer to the imaginary scenarios as
thought experiments. However, interpreters do not go into the question of
whether the imaginary scenarios in Hart’s work do indeed satisfy a general
characterization of thought experiments. In this article, the author
fi rst summarizes the three imaginary scenarios in Hart’s work and points
to the context within which we encounter each of them. Then, he makes use
of a general characterization of thought experiments in the contemporary
philosophical literature and briefl y examines the way and the extent to
which the imaginary scenarios in Hart’s work can satisfy its requirements.
Keywords
Thought experiments; philosophy of law; H. L. A. Hart; imaginary scenarios.
Hrčak ID:
253508
URI
Publication date:
10.5.2018.
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