UDC

124.5:340.12

Authors

Polina K. Zvereva
Industrial University of Tyumen; ul. Volodarskogo 38, Tyumen, 625000, Russian Federation; e-mail: polyusha@inbox.ru

Abstract

This article presents the author’s approach to the study of the concept of the rule of law (in Russian, pravovoy zakon). The rule of law is interpreted here as an abstract object and as a mental representation. In different legal cultures, this concept takes different linguistic forms. The clash and interaction between legal cultures allows us, on the one hand, to identify the rule of law with similar concepts and on the other, to observe the changes in its content in diachrony. Studying the texts of constitutions in different languages and legal cultures is the first step towards identifying the approaches to the content of the rule of law in a country or a society. This paper aimed to describe the mechanisms of excluding the concept of the rule of law from a language and replacing it with other, diffuse concepts with a different scale of values. This research is based on the terminology and its interpretation which correspond to the current leading paradigm of studying the philosophy of law and language. This article turned to the findings of cognitive sciences (analytic philosophy, philosophy of mind, psychology, and linguistics). The theoretical importance of the research lies in the fact that it introduces the concept of the rule of law into the discussion of the philosophy of law as part of the discussion of the cluster concept of law. In terms of practice, the paper suggests criteria for the concept of the rule of law. For a state or a society to be able to recognize legal norms as unconstitutional, the doctrine of the rule of law has to be established. Thus, the concept of the rule of law can have wide practical application in the future. Empirical evidence on finding certain legal norms unconstitutional, with their subsequent socio-philosophical analysis, allows us to establish the theory of the concept of the rule of law within the general theory of mental representation.

Keywords

References

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