How researches are done in the law field? : reflections from the study of monographs of law courses in Brazil

In order to understand the impact of new technologies on the law through the science of law, it is essential to observe how Law researches are done. This paper pursues the following models of legal science: analytical (theory of formal rule); hermeneutics (interpretation theory) and empirical (decision theory) to appraise methodological procedures used in monograph researches in some Brazilian Law courses. This study was to detect which model of law science was used in the development of Law researches. The study was conducted, through Juris Doctors’ interviews. All of these respondents have written a monograph, which is a requirement to complete a Law course in Brazil. The main conclusions of this study were the following: 1) most of the monographs produced do not specify the methodology used for developing the work; 2) when the papers indicate the methodology used, the analytical model was prevalent. In these cases, the science of law appears as a systematization of rules for obtaining possible decisions. 3) Hermeneutic and empirical models were also used, but on a smaller scale. These researches revealed the inaccuracy of the methodological tools used to apprehend the reality. However, these strategies are significant to define the objects of study of law in the contemporary time. Answering the question about how Law researches are done in some Brazilian Law schools, this paper discusses the construction of classical models of science of law, which were taken as the theoretical framework of this work before the hypercomplex current problems

On the role of explanatory and systematic power in scientific reasoning

The paper investigates measures of explanatory power and how to define the inference schema “Inference to the Best Explanation”. It argues that these measures can also be used to quantify the systematic power of a hypothesis and the inference schema “Inference to the Best Systematization” is defined. It demonstrates that systematic power is a fruitful criterion for theory choice and IBS is truth-conducive. It also shows that even radical Bayesians must admit that systemic power is an integral component of Bayesian reasoning. Finally, the paper puts the achieved results in perspective with van Fraassen’s famous criticism of IB

Mathematics as the role model for neoclassical economics (Blanqui Lecture)

Born out of the conscious effort to imitate mechanical physics, neoclassical economics ended up in the mid 20th century embracing a purely mathematical notion of rigor as embodied by the axiomatic method. This lecture tries to explain how this could happen, or, why and when the economists’ role model became the mathematician rather than the physicist. According to the standard interpretation, the triumph of axiomatics in modern neoclassical economics can be explained in terms of the discipline’s increasing awareness of its lack of good experimental and observational data, and thus of its intrinsic inability to fully abide by the paradigm of mechanics. Yet this story fails to properly account for the transformation that the word “rigor” itself underwent first and foremost in mathematics as well as for the existence of a specific motivation behind the economists’ decision to pursue the axiomatic route. While the full argument is developed in Giocoli 2003, these pages offer a taste of a (partially) alternative story which begins with the so-called formalist revolution in mathematics, then crosses the economists’ almost innate urge to bring their discipline to the highest possible level of generality and conceptual integrity, and ends with the advent and consolidation of that very core set of methods, tools and ideas that constitute the contemporary image of economics.Axiomatic method, formalism, rationality, neoclassical economics

Lawyer\u27s Role in Resistance

De svenska bostadspriserna har fortsatt att stiga och tillsammans med det låga ränteläget har även hushållens skuldsättning stigit. Utöver detta har hushållens amorteringsvilja minskat vilket lett till en oro över att hushållen inte kommer klara av framtida svängningar i ekonomin. Denna oro visar sig i införandet av bolånetak och nya amorteringsrekommendationer. Hur svenska hushåll beslutar kring amortering och sparande är en outforskad fråga. Studier tyder på att individer inte alltid agerar rationellt, alltså samlar in och hanterar all tillgänglig information och därefter agerar för att maximera nyttan. Forskare menar att i vissa fall är bostadsägande ett avsteg från rationellt beteende. Behavioral finance menar att individer påverkas av psykologiska faktorer vilket inkluderar känslor, mentala genvägar och sociala influenser. Generellt sett har individer tre alternativ: Amortera som ett sorts sparande och därmed minska risken vid sjunkande bostadspriser och stigande räntor. Likviditeten för andra investeringar och konsumtion minskar. Amortera inte och öka därmed likviditeten och möjligheten att konsumera eller investera i andra former som ger högre avkastning. Risken vid sjunkande bostadspriser och stigande räntor ökar. Varken amortera eller spara. Detta leder till forskningsfrågan: Hur påverkar psykologiska faktorer svenska hushålls amorterings- och sparbeteende? För att få en djupare förståelse för detta beteende krävs ett kvalitativt angreppssätt i form av intervjuer. De semistrukturerade intervjuerna bygger på psykologiska faktorer kategoriserade överensstämmandes med tidigare forskning. Kategoriseringen innefattar känslor och känslomässiga influenser, informationsprocessens strategier och uppfattningar samt psykologiska och sociala motiv, vilka i sin tur innehåller psykologiska faktorer. Vi fördjupar Sahi et al.s (2013) studie vilken vi adderat relevanta teorier till. Detta bildar den teori- och analysmodell analysen utgår ifrån. Urvalet består av fem individer bosatta i Umeå och Stockholm med varierande ålder, utbildning etcetera. Deras gemensamma nämnare är att de är bosatta i Sverige, innehar en bostad och ett bolån. Studien fann att de svenska hushållen ser amortering som en form av sparande. Hushållen minskar inte amorteringen för att kunna investera i andra former med högre avkastning. Amorterings- och sparbeteendet påverkas av psykologiska faktorer men på olika sätt. En gemensam faktor är att alla intervjupersoner förlitar sig på trender vad gäller pris på bostadsmarknaden. Vidare indikerar resultatet att individer inte agerar enligt den traditionella ekonomiska teorin om rationella beslutsfattare. Till skillnad från normativa teorier så som den traditionella ekonomiska teorin, bidrar vi med denna studie en förståelse för hur svenska hushålls faktiska beteende.

Правосубъектность ребенка: актуализация возможностей и их ограничения

The subject of this research is the concept of a child’s legal capacity in an interdisciplinary context and the validity of various approaches for determining the essence and scope of a child’s legal capacity in terms of Russian public and private legislation and to provide suggestions for improvement.Methodology: The authors’ general research methods for cognition are: analysis, synthesis, and abstraction. This research is also based on legal acts and judicial practice, as well as on the opinions of scientists.Results: On the one hand, differentiations in terms of the essence, structure and scope of a child’s legal capacity within the branches of Russian law are justified according to the specifics of their subject and methods of legal regulation. On the other hand, the differences in approaches presented in them, especially according to age criterion, are far from universally justified, and this is especially characteristic of the active component of legal personality – or legal capacity. Thus, 14 and 16 are the ages of legal capacity in terms of constitutional law; 6, 14 and 16 for civil law; 14, 15 and 16 for labour law; 15 for medical law; 10, 14, 15, 16 for family law; etc. The law on education does not indicate any age benchmarks, being oriented towards the school education periods. At the same time, the lower boundaries of ‘minimal legal capacity’ are established only for the sake of civil legal relations and administrative and criminal liability. In other cases, in the assessment of a child’s ability to make legally significant decisions, the law enforcement officer considers a child’s individual psychological characteristics. Typically this approach proves to be correct. Psychological data indicate the development of an acceptable level of cognitive ability by the age of 12; therefore, the formally enshrined concept of child consent to certain legally significant acts beginning at the age of 10 requires discussion and possible adjustment. The ages of 14 and 16 as starting points for basic elements of the legal capacity (legal personality) are reasonable and must be applied systematically; other intermediate solutions are not justified. In terms of a generally correct decision with regard to the moment when the age of legal capacity begins, it would be reasonable to correlate this with the protection of a child’s interests before his/her birth. There is no unified approach to understanding a child’s ability to perform legal duties: in civil law such ability is denied, while in other legal spheres it exists. As for family law, it should be assimilated into the general group. Conclusions: the concept of a child’s legal capacity requires systematization and enhancement as a prerequisite for a reasonable and justified arrangement of children's world – both within the family and in the public sphere.Исследуются актуальные правовые аспекты содержания правосубъектности ребенка различных возрастных категорий, прежде всего его дееспособности, относительно сущности и дифференциации объема которой имеются далеко не всегда обоснованные различия в отраслях российского законодательства – частных и публичных. Анализируется значение нормативно-правовых предписаний об охране его интересов до рождения. На основе обобщения норм различных отраслей российского и зарубежного законодательства, наделяющих ребенка определенными юридическими обязанностями, выявляется необходимость включения данной конструкции и в семейное законодательство. Выводы подкрепляются данными психологической доктрины об особенностях развития ребенка в зависимости от возраста и иных факторов