Law Philosophy Society of Estonia

• Author: Raul Narits
• Position: President of the Law Philosophy Society of Estonia, Professor of Comparative Jurisprudence
• Pages: 208-209

Page 208

Raul Narits

President of the Law Philosophy Society of Estonia, Professor of Comparative Jurisprudence

Law Philosophy Society of Estonia

It is acknowledged that philosophy forms a cognitive basis for all areas of knowledge. Consequently, philosophy also serves as a foundation of jurisprudence, this being an area of systemic knowledge about reality. The questions raised by philosophy are characteristically questions of principles. Thus, the rationality of providing answers to the questions raised by philosophy in different time and space has been called into question. "On its incessant and excessive search for cognition, philosophy encounters its fundamental problem that human cognition lacks a fixed point of departure. Human cognition is not to be used as once fixed mental basis from which all models of cognition would develop themselves and enable to obtain knowledge."¹

The Faculty of Law of the University of Tartu has not shared scepticism concerning the value of philosophy. On the contrary, the view that philosophy of law is an imminent constituent of jurisprudence as a so-called accumulating science has been supported both in research papers and in the teaching process. We are of the opinion that philosophy of law is capable of asking questions and seeking answers to the question about the idea of law in its broad sense². As we know, the idea of law consists of justice, purposefulness and certainty in the law. In essence, philosophy of law epitomises the most profound idea of law - a search for justice. Philosophy of law can thus be called a justice-searching science. Naturally, the understanding of justice proper has greatly varied in different time and space, but this very fact has not, by any means, undermined the relevance of raising the question, and the cognitive nature of providing the answers.

Recalling what position philosophy of law and state occupy in the system of knowledge, we can assert that originally they were classical subsections of general philosophy. They lost this role only in the 19th century. Since that time, appropriately trained jurists engage themselves in philosophy of law and state (which are more frequently identified also as philosophy of law); they have to be able to navigate in the problems and methods of general philosophy. In order to characterise the relationships between law and philosophy, the sources of the field claim acutely that in philosophy of law, the jurist asks a question...