Ino Augsberg?s comment - a few remarks

• Author: Geir Stenseth
• Pages: 118-118

118 ANCILLAIURIS(anci.ch)2008:118–Comment

Whenwetakeacloselookatapotentiallyinterestingre

searchobject,wealwaysrealizethatitispartofawebof

symbioticrelationships.Itisimpossibletoinvestigateall

theserelationshipssimultaneously.Inordertoconductme

aningfulstudies,wehavetoisolateone,orafew,features

ofthephenomenonatatime.Fromthere,wecanaddsuch

newknowledgetothealreadyaccumulatedknowledgeof

thephenomenon,whichinturnmayleadtobetterinsights

intothewebofrelationshipsasawhole.

Whatitmeanstobethemoreenergizedperspectivefor

study,i.e.whatpartofaphenomenonitissuitabletopick

outandisolateforadeeperstudy,dependsonmanyhete

rogeneousparameters(time,place,tradition,individualex

perience,etc.).Forinstance,whenyourepeatedlyrealize,

bothinthecourtroomandinlegaltexts,howsensitively

peopletendtoreacttopropertyinterventions,thepheno

menonstandsoutasaninterestingresearchobject.Inde

pendentofhowyoumayviewthepurposeofthelaw–as

agoverningprocess,asaguarantyforhumanintegrity,or

assomethingelse–itmustbeanadvantagefortheactorsin

thelegalsystemtostrengthentheirknowledgeofhowpeo

pletendtoreacttothesystemsfundamentalconcepts.Itis

notradicaltoclaimthatthelegalsystemcouldbenefitfrom

knowledgepertainingtohowpeoplereason.AndasIread

Ausbergscomments,healsograntslegalrelevanceto

knowledgegeneratedinthelifesciencesandbehavioral

economics.

Thewaysinwhichwecomprehendsuchknowledgeas

relevantforanormativesystemlikethelawisaquestionof

howwevaluatedifferentfactualconsequences.Takeanex

pressionlikethis:Weoughttoshapepropertylawina

waythatacknowledgesfundamentalhumanneedsfor

stableanddurableprotectionforpossessions. Onestan

dardproargumentforsuchastatementis:Itwillreduce

theuseofforceneededtoimplementthelaw.Onestan

dardcontraargumentagainstsuchastatementis:Itwill

leadtofeweropportunitiesfordistributivejustice.Inthis

case,therelevanceoftheargumentdependsonhowdiffe

rentpeoplevaluetheoutcomeifthedifferentarguments

arerealized.Itispresumable,though,thatmostofthepar

ticipantsinthelegaldebatewillfindthefirstargumentof

somerelevance.Accordingly,aninvestigationofthevalidi

tyoftheargumentindifferentsituationsshouldalsobeof

benefit.1

Mytextshowshowindividualpsychologicalfindings

inlifescienceandbehavioraleconomicsmayleadtoamore

differentiatedviewonhowpeoplecomprehendvarioussi

tuationsofpossession.Theanalysisleadstoagradualmo

del,questioningthestrengthoftheindividualpsychologi

calargumentinsignificantareasofthelaw.Inshort,the

modeldealswiththedifferingdegreesofsignificancethat

canbeattributedtoargumentsderivedfromthepossessor

objectdimensionrelativetotheargumentsderivedfrom

thethirdpartiesobjectdimension.Thisnecessarilyrecog

nizes,notexcludes,otherargumentswhenweareconfron

tedwithalegalpropertyproblem.Augsbergseemstolose

sightofthis,asheisinsteadoccupiedbydescribingthemo

delasuncompromisingessentialism withanarrowed

perspective.Iwelcomesociologicallyandsocialhistori

callyoriented arguments,asAugsbergcallsfor,along

withallothervalidandrelevantarguments,bothindiscus

sionsofpropertyandinotherareasofthelegalsphere.Du

ringsuchdiscussionsweshouldnotclaimanyknowledge

tobeconcrete,nordenythepossibilityofmultipleanswers

toagivenproblem,butrathergivedueconsiderationto

everyvalidandrelevantargument.

1Ihereusetheconceptsofrelevanceandvalidity fornormative

argumentsinaccordancewithArneNaess,Communicationand

Argument:ElementsofAppliedSemantics(translatedfromthe

NorwegianbyAlastairHannay,revisedandeditedbyHarold

Glasserincooperationwiththeauthorandwithassistancefrom

AlanDrengson),in:HaroldGlasser(serieseditor),TheSelected

Work sofArneNaess,Vo lum eVII(Dordrecht,2005),pp.84–95.

ForreaderswhomastertheScandinavianlanguages,adiscussion

oftheapplicabilityofNaess conceptstolegalargumentsis

broughtforwardinGeirStenseth,Omrelevansogvekt–men

manglendeholdbarhet–forjuridiskeargumenter,LovogRett

(Norwegianlegaljournal)2003,pp.131–145.

InoAugsberg’scomment–afewremarks

GeirStenseth