Bartosz Brożek
Teoria Polityki, No. 4/2020, 2020, pp. 79 - 92
https://doi.org/10.4467/25440845TP.19.017.11783This paper considers the foundations of legal interpretation against the background of the theory of embodied cognition and mental simulation. It is argued that interpretation has a double, concrete-abstract nature. The understanding of concrete language is made possible by the mechanism of mental simulation. In turn, the interpretation of abstract language (and hence of most of legal language) requires to apply the procedures of exemplification, paraphrase and embedding. The relationship between these two modes of language comprehension is analyzed and the thesis is defended that they represent two extremes of a continuous spectrum rather than isolated mechanisms. Finally, the significance of such a conception of interpretation for legal methodology is considered. It is argued that the conception provides a unifying, foundational framework for any theory of legal interpretation, as well as generates fresh insights into the nature of understanding legal statutes.
Bartosz Brożek
Cracow Studies of Constitutional and Legal History, Volume 15, Issue 2, Volume 15 (2022), pp. 175 - 177
https://doi.org/10.4467/20844131KS.22.035.16208
The project ‘Continuity and Discontinuity of Pre-war Legal Systems in Post-war Successor States (1918–1939)’ is co-financed by the Governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe. Visegrad Grant No. 22030159.