aesthetics of law

Gustav Klimt’s Jurisprudence and the Problem of the Scale of Claims on the Law

Natalia Regina Skoczylas

University of Wrocław

Dr Mateusz Wojtanowski

University of Wrocław

Abstrakt w języku polskim: The subject of this article is Gustav Klimt’s Jurisprudenz, a work intended as part of a larger exhibition of paintings depicting specific fields of knowledge. In contrast to the prevailing interpretation of the work in question as an expression of the artist’s personal sense of having been wronged, the authors of this article propose an alternative perspective, suggesting that the image carries a valuable message for legal discourse. As they argue, the image in question makes it possible to identify a potential way of improving the practice of law by reducing claims on it. In terms of the axiological perspective of the considerations, the article is located within the liberal democratic tradition. The article has an interdisciplinary character as Jurisprudence is interpreted from the perspective of art history and legal philosophy.

Słowa kluczowe: Gustav Klimt, Jurisprudenz, art history, philosophy of law, claims to law, aesthetics of law

Język artykułu: polski

Opublikowano: Numer 2(43)/2025, s. 58-79.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2025.2.58

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Liczba ściągnięć: 89

Tekst jest dostępny na licencji Creative Commons Uznanie autorstwa 4.0 Międzynarodowe.

Law and Values Other Than Moral. On Searching for Tropes in Józef Nowacki’s Works

Prof. dr hab. Kamil ZEIDLER

University of Gdańsk

English abstract: In his article, the author asks the question to what extent considerations in the field of axiology regarding the relationship between law and morality can be useful for the development of the legal-philosophical trend known as legal aesthetics, where the subject of interest is, most generally, the relationship between law and beauty. The starting point for reflections is the issue of axiology in the context of the works left by Józef Nowacki, including, first of all, his article “Valuing in the science of law”. Thus, the subject of the article is axiology, but in a sense that covers both ethics and aesthetics. The author distinguishes four types of description used by legal science: normative description, empirical description, theoretical description and – distinguished by the author – axiological description, which can be justified within the framework of axiological subjectivism. It involves evaluating values and either adding or subtracting them, as well as valuing, that is, comparing and weighing values. The author considers what inspiration in this regard can be drawn from axiological inquiries in general, and Nowacki’s works in particular.

Keywords: axiology, values, valuing, law and morality, principles of law, aesthetics, aesthetics of law

Language: Polish

Published: Number 3(36)/2023, s. 44-50.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2023.3.44

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Institutional Critique as a Research Perspective of Jurisprudence in the Context of Jacques Rancière’s Philosophy

Dr Mariola ŻAK

University of Warsaw

English abstract: The article reflects on the condition of contemporary critique of law in the light of institutional critique derived from the theory of art. This study aims to verify the thesis that institutional critique is a research perspective formed against the background of various trends of critical legal thought. This critique is affirmative and constructive in character. It focuses on the analysis of the performance of reflexive institutions and it also problematizes cognitive tensions that are inherent in legal institutions. The institutions are analysed in the light of the metaphor of aesthetic play. The article presents the theoretical grounding of the relationship between institutional critique and critical legal thinking in the light of the philosophy of law inspired by Jacques Rancière’s thought. Furthermore, selected examples of this critique and directions for its potential application are shown in the context of modelling patterns of dialogic legal culture as understood by the law and humanities movement.

Keywords: institutional critique, critical legal thinking, aesthetics of law, law and humanities, Jacques Rancière

Language: Polish

Published: Number 1(34)/2023, pp.87-101

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280//AFPiFS.2023.1.87

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Number of downloads: 228

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How Much Beauty in Law? How Much Law in Beauty? A Review of Kamil Zeidler’s Aesthetics of Law (Gdańsk–Warszawa 2020, pp. 309)

Dr Dawid Kostecki

John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin

Keywords: law, aesthetics, aesthetics of law, philosophy of law, axiology, jursiprudence

Language: English

Published: Number 3(32)/2022, pp. 114-118

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2022.3.114

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Number of downloads: 291

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Law in Film as a Manifestation of Aesthetics of Law and a Special Case of Law and Literature Movement

Prof. dr hab. Kamil Zeidler

University of Gdańsk

English abstract: If we put together and systematize research streams: law in film, law and literature, and aesthetics of law, it is easy to reach the conclusion that we are dealing with related subjects, with a certain overlap in research areas. The broadest term is aesthetics of law, whose scope covers the entire law and literature movement, meanwhile law in film is a more detailed aspect of the latter.

Systematizing the aesthetics of law, we can close it in three aspects: the external one, the internal one, and the one called ‘law as a device for aesthetization’. The aesthetics of law in the external aspect deals with manifestations of law, legal inspirations, legal themes, symbols, signs, which were represented through centuries in fine arts. The subject of the aesthetics of law in the internal aspect is the law itself. The third aspect of the aesthetics of law focuses on law as a device for aesthetization of daily life.

In the law and literature movement, the reflections concern either the inclusion of legislative and legal content in literary works (law in literature), or the literary, including aesthetic, value, of normative instruments, and more broadly, also other acts of applying the law (law as literature). A special case of this research stream is legal cinematography, where a film prepared on the basis of a screenplay is treated as a kind of narrative, justifying the statement that law in film further develops the law and literature movement.

The practical aspect of such research – of legal aesthetics, law and literature, and law in film – concerns mainly the significance and influence on legal awareness, and on shaping the attitudes towards law. The key thing here is approaching the problem of influencing legal awareness through other means than the text of a normative instrument alone.

Keywords: aesthetics of law, law and literature, law in film, legal cinematography, legal awareness

Language: Polish

Published: Number 1(26)/2021, pp. 8-20.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2021.1.8

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Number of downloads: 552