Law and Science as Forms of Inquiry: Toward a Comparison of Legal and Scientific Knowledge

25 Pages Posted: 21 Nov 2009

See all articles by Frederic R. Kellogg

Frederic R. Kellogg

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE); Universidade Federal de Pernambuco; George Washington University

Date Written: November 19, 2009

Abstract

This paper seeks to compare two separate schools of thought on the nature of knowledge as social inquiry. One is pragmatic fallibilism, associated with Charles S. Peirce and the early American pragmatists, with which I associate the legal philosophy of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. The other is an approach to the sociology of scientific knowledge called finitism, associated with the Science Studies Unit at the University of Edinburgh, known for the ‘strong program’ characterizing the ‘Edinburgh School’ of science studies. Both legal and scientific knowledge might be viewed as forms of community inquiry, focusing on the primacy of cases and exemplars in the process of intersubjective classification, and on the dual role of concepts in both guiding the conduct of professional inquirers and framing and maintaining the coherence and consistency of both expert and general belief.

Keywords: philosophy of science, philosophy of law, jurisprudence, sociology of knowledge, pragmatism, fallibilism, finitism, Bloor, Durkheim, Feyerabend, Haack, Hesse, Holmes, Kuhn, Lakatos, Laudan, Peirce

Suggested Citation

Kellogg, Frederic R., Law and Science as Forms of Inquiry: Toward a Comparison of Legal and Scientific Knowledge (November 19, 2009). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1509651 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1509651

Frederic R. Kellogg (Contact Author)

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE) ( email )

Cidade Universitária
Cidade Universitária, Pernambuco 50670-901
Brazil

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco ( email )

2027 Q Street NW
Washington, DC 20009
United States
2022344620 (Phone)

George Washington University ( email )

2121 I Street NW
Washington, DC 20052
United States

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