Pragmatist Instrumentalism as a Paradigm of Intercultural Legal Semiotics

Bibliographic Data

ID23027883
AuthorsAnnette Langner-Pitschmann (0000-0003-4470-3878, Goethe University Frankfurt, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume14
Issue2
Pages183-205
Publication date2025-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueOxford Journal of Law and Religion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2047-0770 • E-ISSN: 2047-0789
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/ojlr/rwae029
OpenAlexW4404588685
LanguageEN
Citations received1

The project of intercultural legal semiotics faces the dilemma between the situational character of legal meaning and its cross-situational claim to validity. This article examines the extent to which John Dewey’s conception of cultural naturalism can contribute to further exploration of this inherent conflict. Guided by the assumption that the question of the intercultural comprehensibility of legal meanings refers to the linguistic paradigm of the pragmatic turn, it sets out with a look at Wittgenstein’s later philosophy. Against this backdrop, Dewey’s concepts of inquiry and imagination are discussed, revealing their potential for the project of cross-cultural production of legal meaning. In light of Dewey’s theory of religion, in which the implications of these concepts are condensed, this potential is examined more closely. It becomes apparent that Dewey’s deep trust in the human ability to interpret experience appropriately and meaningfully is a crucial prerequisite for a sustainable perspective on the challenge of an intercultural semiotics of law.

Epistemology · Instrumentalism · Meaning (existential) · Pragmatism · Semiotics · Situational ethics · Sociology · Comparative and International Law Studies · Law in Society and Culture · Legal Language and Interpretation · Philosophy

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