The Pluralistic Universe of Law: Towards a Neo-Classical Legal Pragmatism

Abstract

After a brief sketch of the history of philosophical pragmatism generally, and of legal pragmatism specifically (section 1), this paper develops a new, neo-classical legal pragmatism: a theory of law drawing in part on Holmes, but also on ideas from the classical pragmatist tradition in philosophy. Main themes are the "pluralistic universe" of law (section 2); the evolution of legal systems (section 3); the place of logic in the law (section 4); and the relation of law and morality (section 5).

Keywords: classical pragmatism, Oliver Wendell Holmes, pluralistic universe, synechism, evolution of legal systems, logic and law, law and morality