On the importance of linguistic turn in law studies

Abstract

The article aims to substantiate the significance of the study of the linguistic turn for the knowledge of legal phenomena, which has been vividly manifested in socio-humanitarian studies since the beginning of the last century. The linguistic turn is viewed as a consequence of the intellectual movement unfolding since the end of the 19th century called “criticism of metaphysics”, which influenced most of the philosophical schools of the 20th century - phenomenology, hermeneutics, existentialism, analytical philosophy, pragmatism and others. The linguistic turnaround arose in the process of criticism of metaphysics as the isolation of philosophical and scientific theories from real life. Lawyers were actively involved in this movement of research thought, since it involves immersion in the direct process of social communication, much of which corresponds to the concept of the subject of legal regulation. The article substantiates the difference between fundamental and applied sciences, in which the object of knowledge and, accordingly, the understanding of truth are not identical. The linguistic turn is considered as one of the ways to ensure the connection of law-making and legal research with a really existing subject of legal regulation and legal practice. It is recognized that in the Russian doctrinal sense of justice there is a lack of immersion in an objectively existing social reality, the most important aspect of which is language. There are examples given here to prove the fact that language is not just a sign system, acting as a means of expressing thoughts about reality, but this reality itself is revealed to a person by those parties and aspects specified by the words used to describe it. The conclusion is made about the need for legal theories and legislative structures to take into account the peculiarities of the Russian legal consciousness, which are reflected in the semantics of the Russian language.