Paul Ricoeur

Dimensions of Legal Ethics in the Light of Paul Ricoeur’s ‘Petite Éthique’

Dr Marcin Pieniążek

Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University

English abstract: The article investigates the multidimensional phenomenon of legal ethics, whose complexity justifies looking for adequate tools for its systematization in philosophy. An attempt is made to characterize a number of aspects of legal ethics in the perspective of Paul Ricoeur’s “little ethics” (French: la petite éthique). The concept makes it possible to order the reflection on the phenomenon of ethics in, among others, the teleological and deontological dimensions, as well as in the intrapersonal (i.e. within a person), interpersonal, and institutional (corporate) dimensions. The article also refers to the question of the textual dimension of legal ethics, including the co-conditioning of the substance of the codes of ethics and the personal “text of action” of a barrister, legal advisor, etc. This provides context for discussing the question of the dialectic of the prescriptive and descriptive aspects of codes of ethics on the basis of Ricoeur’s narratological considerations against a broader background of the dispute between cognitivism and noncognitivism.

Keywords: lawyers’ ethics, Paul Ricoeur, la petite éthique, teleological ethics, deontological ethics, narratology

Language: English

Received: 19.06.2019
Accepted: 02.11.2019

Published: Number 2(20)/2019, pp. 20-28.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2019.2.20

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Number of downloads: 225

On Possible Applications of Paul Ricoeur’s Thought in Legal Theory

Dr Marcin Pieniążek

Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University

English abstract: The paradigm of legal positivism, historically the most important attempt at turning law into science, has been subject to thorough criticism in past decades. The criticism has concerned the most important features of legal positivism, and especially the assumption of separation of law and morality, the dogma of statue being the only source of law, and the linguistic methods of interpreting legal texts. With a crisis of the positive paradigms, the demand for new, humanistic grounds for analysing philosophical and legal questions is intensifying. This is the reason for this article’s attempt to point to the application of Paul Ricoeur’s achievements to the key questions of the philosophy of law. It must be emphasised that his works, and especially Soimême comme un autre, may serve as a foundation for a philosophy of law rejecting the problematic claims about the dualism of being and obligation, the distinction of descriptive and prescriptive languages, and also the separation of law and morality. Thanks to this, the legal topos pacta sunt servanda (agreements must be kept) finds a reinforcement in the ontology of the subject applying law and can be understood as an ethically significant pattern of identity of the self. Equally fruitful seems the possibility of combining the questions of the ontology of the subject applying law with the question of a legal text and its interpretation. The assumption of Ricoeur’s perspective leads to a reduction in the distance between the legal text and its addressee, emphasised by the critics of legal positivism. This rapprochement becomes possible thanks to the connection of the question of the narrative that a legal text is with the question of narrativisation of the subject (i.e. the interpreter of a legal text), being itself in the ipse sense, i.e. applying the law.

Keywords: Paul Ricoeur, legal positivism, legal interpretation

Language: English

Published: Number 1(10)/2015, pp. 79-88

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2015.1.79

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Number of downloads: 232

Self-government institutions of the legal professions of public trust in the light of assumptions of Paul Ricoeur’s ‘little ethics’

Dr Marcin Pieniążek

Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University

English abstract: In this article, the problems of institutional aspects of lawyers’ legal ethics are discussed. On the theoretical plane, the concept of lawyers’ self-government institutions is reinterpreted in the perspective of ‘little ethics’ outlined by Paul Ricoeur’s in his work Oneself as Another. This approach is cognitively justified because, in the light of the assumptions adopted by the philosopher, the ethical aspiration of an entity can be fully realised only in ‘just institutions’. In the first place, the text discusses the fundamental importance of the institution, taking into consideration the achievements of legal meta-ethics. The point of reference for the analyses undertaken by the author is the role played by the concept in question in the ethical and professional codifications of the self-governments of attorneys and legal advisors in Poland. In the key part of the discussion, Ricoeur’s concept of ethics is adopted as the basis for systematizing and reinterpreting the issues relating to institutions of self-government of the legal professions of public trust. Ultimately, the theory of professional ethics, referring to the philosopher’s work, enables characterising in a comprehensive way the ethical aspirations of a lawyer at the internal, interpersonal and institutional levels.

Keywords: institutions, lawyers’ professional self-government, legal ethics, ‘little ethics’, Paul Ricoeur

Language: Polish

Received: 06.06.2017
Accepted: 08.09.2017

Published: Number 1(16)/2018, pp. 54-68.

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Number of downloads: 119

Reflexivity and the Codification of Legal Ethics. Remarks on the Basis of Paul Ricoeur’s “Little Ethics” Theory

Dr Marcin Pieniążek

Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Kraków University

Abstract: Codes of legal ethics encounter constant waves of criticism. It is pointed out that their disadvantage is, on the one hand, the excessive casuistry, limiting the possibility of taking independent decisions in cases of ethical and professional conflicts, and, on the other hand, the exaggerated declarative character of perfectionist ethical and professional virtues. The gap between the abovementioned perspectives, easily perceived in such codes, results in a dysfunctionality of professional ethics in the actions undertaken by members of the legal profession. The article, apart from the critical-comparative part, includes a proposal of reading and interpreting the content of the codes in a way that transgresses the above opposition. The theoretical basis of the presented position is provided by the concept of “little ethics” formulated by Paul Ricoeur in his work Oneself as Another. The ethical theory developed by Ricoeur combines the elements of Aristotelian ethics of virtues with Kantian ethics of duty. For this reason, it sets a uniform perspective for opposing elements, namely: subordination to the norm of the code and pursuit of ethical and professional self-improvement by legal professionals. The proposed solution belongs to the “reflexive” paradigm of the lawyer’s professional ethics proposed on the basis of Ricoeur’s onto-ethical theory.

Language: English

Keywords: legal ethics, codification, reflexivity, Paul Ricoeur, teleological ethics, deontological ethics, “little ethics”

Published: Number 2(13)/2016, pp. 39-50.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2016.2.39

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Number of downloads: 295