The Abolition of Relevance or a Return to Modernity: Two Trajectories of Legal Theory

Abstract

This text is devoted to the problem of relevance in modern legal theory and philosophy. The concept of “relevance” goes beyond simple innovation and is associated with the need to respond to the challenges of the time, remove obstacles and solve urgent problems. In legal science, there is a gap between traditional dogmatics and changing legal reality, which requires rethinking its methodology and turning to the philosophical foundations of law. The article considers the historical and philosophical context in which law ceases to be an unchanging entity and becomes a means of communication between subjects who are faced with the practical task of legal protection of their interests. The author analyzes the crisis of the legal system in the 20th century and raises the question of responsibility as a methodological principle of the philosophy of law. The rethinking of legal concepts and the purpose of legal institutions is not in all cases subordinated to the interests of the law itself, which in the implementation of political projects sometimes loses its fundamental properties. In conclusion, the fundamental features of modern legal dogmatics are emphasized, the basis of which were the ideas about the subject developed in postclassical philosophy.