Abstract

MONTEMAYOR, Carlos. Rationality and Reasonableness in Legal Theory. Probl. anu. filos. teor. derecho [online]. 2014, n.8, pp.39-51. ISSN 2448-7937.

This paper examines Guillermo Lariguet's paper 'Analytical Legal Philosophy Reloaded,' offering two interpretations of the 'reloading' project. The paper argues that a naturalistic reading of the project is unmotivated and that a more promising way of interpreting Lariguet's proposal is in terms of a rather ambitious methodological agenda, which is analogous to the broadly encompassing methodological criticism envisioned by Jürgen Habermas in some of his work, which centers on communicative action. This 'reasonableness' proposal, as I shall call it, is a plea to invigorate and enrich not just legal philosophy, but philosophical discourse in general, and shows that the reloading of legal philosophy cannot be understood as a project that originates only from within legal philosophy.

Keywords : Legal Philosophy; Rationality; Reasonableness; Philosophical Naturalism; Communicative Action.