Legal Pragmatism

  1. Richard A. Posner

Article first published online: 27 FEB 2004

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9973.2004.00310.x

Issue

Metaphilosophy

Metaphilosophy

Volume 35, Issue 1-2, pages 147–159, January 2004

Additional Information

How to Cite

Posner, R. A. (2004), Legal Pragmatism. Metaphilosophy, 35: 147–159. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9973.2004.00310.x

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 27 FEB 2004
  2. Article first published online: 27 FEB 2004

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Keywords:

  • law;
  • pragmatism;
  • formalism;
  • judges;
  • legal systems;
  • John Dewey;
  • Richard Rorty

Abstract: This essay describes modern American legal pragmatism. Its origins in pragmatist philosophy are traced, and it is compared with the law and economics movement in American law and the formalist style of Continental legal theory. The essay argues that the inevitability of legal pragmatism in America, and its dispensability in Europe, reflect fundamental institutional and cultural differences rather than mere accidents of history or legal thought.

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