Paper's abstract

Gustavo Just, “Cognitivists” and “sceptical” theories of interpretation: a relative and ambiguous distinction
Theories of interpretation are sometimes classified between “cognitivists” and “sceptical”, according to the criterion of the answer they give to the question whether true and false predicates are applicable to the interpretations laid down by lawyers. But the terms of this distinction are relative values of a scale, which is not a merely analytical dimension but also a cultural variable. This classification is also ambiguous because of the superposition, in the semantics of its terms, of the different levels (including “meta-ethics” and epistemology) of the philosophical and theoretical reflection underlying every conception of the critical controllability of legal interpretation.


Key Words : scepticism, cognitivist, theory of interpretation
t. 48, 2004 : p. 371-380