ON HANS-GEORG GADAMER´S INTEREST IN LAW

Abstract

In the second postwar period, in Germany, legal thinkers such as Josef Esser, Friedrich Müller and Arthur Kaufmann became interested Gadamer´s philosophical hermeneutics. Inspired by it, they tried to rethink the interpretation of the norm. The context of reception led these jurists, however, to neglect some aspects of the philosopher's work. Surprisingly, they paid little attention to what Gadamer has specifically written on legal hermeneutics. We intend to reinvigorate this neglected dimension of his work. Gadamer thoughts on Law are rooted in an ontological and ethical perspective; from this point of view he insists on the importance of connecting the activities of jurists and the Aristotelian phronesis. We will conclude that jurists today have a lot to learn with his lessons on the ethical component of the activity of adapting the norm to the case.

Keywords

• direito
• ética
• hermenêutica
• prudência.