Methodological and Practical Utility of Subjectivation According to Gadamer for the Production of Legal Categories

Abstract

This paper aims to justify that a rigorous consideration of the juridical scope of what Gadamer calls subjectivation –a concept originally developed in the realm of aesthetics– provides a useful methodological framework to guide jurists in the dogmatic-practical production of legal categories. Specifically, we will argue that Gadamerian reflections on subjectivation offer particularly fertile guiding ideas for the construction of a methodological framework oriented toward a practical-dogmatic approach to the study of law. The roadmap we have followed to support the plausibility of our hypothesis is as follows: we begin by explaining what Gadamer understands by subjectivation; we then develop the juridical-practical implications of this concept; finally, we justify that Gadamer's reflections on subjectivation into the work of jurists entails methodological implications.