PROBLEMS OF APPLYING A SEMIOTIC METHODOLOGY IN MODERN JURISPRUDENCE AND BIOETHICS
DOI: 10.23951/2312-7899-2019-4-126-155
The article aims to analyze the problems of applying a semiotic methodology in modern jurisprudence and bioethics. It is shown that the conductor of the semiotic methodology in legal research is the semiotics of law, an interdisciplinary scientific branch intensively developing since the 1970s. The current state of the semiotics of law is primarily due to the lack of a theoretical, conceptual and methodological unity. At the same time, the diversity and the “conflicts” of scientific theories, concepts and methods are observed not only at the level of interaction between semiotics and jurisprudence, but also within semiotics itself. The article considers the main scientific directions that laid the foundation for the formation of the semiotics of law, associated with two cardinal lines of the initial development of general semiotics: logical, leading its tradition from Charles Peirce’s works, and linguistic, the founder of which is Ferdinand de Saussure. It is concluded that significant methodological difficulties for the development of the semiotics of law and the application of the semiotic methodology in legal research is the lack of common concepts. It is also shown that the phenomenon of multimodality poses new challenges for the semiotics of law. It presupposes an increased research interest in non-verbal legal signs: natural, figurative, and action signs. The analysis of figurative and action signs, the results of the research of other law-related discourses (political, religious, etc.) may be particularly useful for the productive development of the semiotics of law. The article also gives an idea of heuristic possibilities of applying the semiotic approach in bioethics. In this field, it is generally accepted that semiotic problems are more likely to be related to logic, epistemology, or cognitive science, but can only be indirectly related to ethical problems of biomedicine. Based on the ideas of Charles Peirce and Victoria Welby, the article examines the historical and philosophical prerequisites for the development of the semiotics of ethics and shows that this field of research can serve as a philosophical and methodological basis for the development of semiotic research in the field of bioethics. The semiotic approach to bioethics, as stressed in the article, should be based on the problems of human body rights. They are the “semantic universals” (Umberto Eco) that can be considered inherent to the whole of humanity. In the author’s opinion, the explication of the problems of “body rights”, “somatic” law, within the framework of the semiotic approach, can become a link for the rapprochement of the semiotics of law and semiotic research in the field of bioethics.
Keywords: semiotics of law, semiotics of bioethics, semiotic methodology in legal research, sign, meaning, language games, ethics of meaning
References:
Agamben, G. (2012) Homo sacer. Chto ostaetsya posle Osventsima: arkhiv i svidetel’ [Homo Sacer. Remnants of Auschwitz: The Witness and the Archive]. Translated from Italian. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo “Evropa”.
Balkin, J.M. (1991) The Promise of Legal Semiotics. University of Texas Law Review. 69. pp. 1831–1852.
Balkin, J.M. (1994) Being Just With Deconstruction. Faculty Scholarship Series. Paper 271. pp. 393–404.
Ballweg, O. (1987) Analytical Rhetoric, Semiotic and Law. In: Kevelson, R. (ed.) Law and Semiotics. Vol. 1. N.Y.; London: Plenum Press. pp. 25–33.
Ballweg, O. & Seibert, T.-M. (1982) Rhetorische Rechtstheorie – im Zusammenhang gesehen. In: Ballweg, O. & Seibert, T.-M. (eds) Rhetorische Rechtstheorie. Freiburg; München: Alber. pp. 15–24.
Beauchamp, T.L. & Childress, J.F. (1994) Principles of Biomedical Ethics. 4th ed. Oxford; Oxford University Press.
Broekman, J.M. & Fleerackers, F. (2018) Legal Signs Fascinate. Springer Netherlands.
Cacciaguidi-Fahy, S. & Mooney, A. (2009) The Promise of Legal Semiotics. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law. 22. pp. 381–386.
Eco, U. (2003) Pyat’ esse na temy etiki [Five Essays on Ethics]. Translated from Italian by E. Kostyukovich. St. Petersburg: “Simpozium”.
Eco, U. (2007) Rol’ chitatelya. Issledovaniya po semiotike teksta [The Role of the Reader: Explorations in the Semiotics of Texts]. Translated from English and Italian by S.D. Serebryanyy. St. Petersburg: “Simpozium”.
Evdokimov, K.E., Melik-Gaykazyan, M.V., Kuznetsov, V.G. & Melik-Gaykazyan, I.V. (2016) “Semiotic Attractor”: A Model for the NBICS-Technologies Coherence Management. Innovation Management and Education Excellence Vision 2020: From Regional Development Sustainability to Global Economic Growth, IBIMA 2016 Proceedings of the 27th International Business Information Management Association Conference. Milan: [s.n.]. pp. 355–361.
Gizbert-Studnicki, T. (1986) Język prawny z perspektywy socjolingwistycznej. Zeszyty Naukowe Universytetu Jagiellońskiego. DCCL XXVII. Prace z nauk politycznych. Zeszyt 26. Warszawa; Kraków: PWN.
Gorbuleva, M.S., Melik-Gaykazyan, I.V. & Meshcheryakova, T.V. (2013) Mech i skal’pel’: semioticheskaya diagnostika transformatsii vlastnykh vzaimootnosheniy kak kul’turnykh determinatsiy osnovnykh printsipov bioetiki [Sword and Scalpel: Semiotic Diagnosis of the Transformation of Power Relationships as Cultural Determinations of the Basic Principles of Bioethics]. Tomsk: Tomsk State Pedagogical University.
Greimas, A.J. & Landowski, E. (1976) Analyse sémiotique d’un discours juridique. Sémiotique et sciences Sociales. Paris: Seuil. pp. 79–128.
Hoven, P.J. van den. (1988) Legal Argument as an Illocutionary Act Complex. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law/Revue Internationale de Sémiotique Juridique. 1. pp. 29–45.
Jackson, B.S. (1985) Semiotics and Legal Theory. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Jackson, B.S. (1995) Making Sense in Law: Linguistic, Psychological and Semiotic Perspectives. Liverpool, UK: Deborah Charles Publications.
Jackson, B.S. (1996) Making Sense in Jurisprudence. Liverpool, UK: Deborah Charles Publications.
Jackson, B.S. (2011) Legal Semiotics and Semiotic Aspects of Jurisprudence. In: Wagner, A. & Broekman, J.M. (eds) Prospects of Legal Semiotics. Springer Netherlands. pp. 3–36.
Jori, M. (1987) Semiotica e teoria del diritto. Rivista internazionale di filosofia del diritto. LXIV(2). pp. 196–239.
Jori, M. (1989) Tendances en sémiotique juridique. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law. II(6). pp. 277 – 300.
Kalinowski, G. (1988) Sémiotique Juridique. In: Arnaud, A.J. et al. (eds) Dictionnaire Encyclopédique de Théorie et de Sociologie du Droit. Paris and Bruxelles: L.G.D.J. and E. Story-Scientia. pp. 370–371.
Kalinowski, J. (1990) Logika prawnicza a logika deontyczna. In: Wronkowska, S. & Zieliński, M. (eds) Szkice z teorii prawa i szczegółowych nauk prawnych. Uniwersytet im. A. Mickiewicza w Poznaniu; Seria Prawo. No. 12S. Poznań: Wyd. Nauk. Uniw. im. A. Mickiewicza w Poznaniu. pp. 345–357.
Kevelson, R. (1982) Peirce’s Dialogism, Continuous Predicate, and Legal Reasoning. Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society. 18(2). pp. 159–176.
Kevelson, R. (1985) Peirce’s Philosophy of Signs and Legal Hermeneutics. In: Bulygin, E. et al. (eds) Man, Law and Modern Forms of Life. Dordrecht: Reidel. pp. 125–135.
Kevelson, R. (1986) Semiotic Method and Legal Inquiry. Indiana Law Review. 61(3). pp. 355–371.
Kevelson, R. (1987) Introduction to the First Round Table on Law and Semiotics. In: Kevelson, R. (ed.) Law and Semiotics. Vol. 1. New York, NY and London: Plenum Press. pp. 1–24.
Kevelson, R. (1987) Legitimizing “Repugnancy” in Law: Peirce and Contradiction. In: Kevelson, R. (ed.) Law and Semiotics. Vol. 1. New York, NY and London: Plenum Press. pp. 239–282.
Kevelson, R. (1988) The Law as a System of Signs. New York; London: Plenum Press.
Kovkel’ N.F. (2011b) Kontinuum leksicheskoy prozrachnosti yazykovoy znakovoy sistemy zakonodatel’stva [The Continuum of Lexical Transparency of the Linguistic Sign System of Legislation]. Vesnik Grodzenskaga dzyarzhaunaga universiteta im. Ya. Kupaly. 1. pp. 4–15.
Kovkel’ N.F. (2013b) Sotsiolingvisticheskie osobennosti normativnykh pravovykh aktov i pravoprimenitel’nykh aktov [Sociolinguistic features of normative legal acts and law enforcement acts]. Vesnik Grodzenskaga dzyarzhaunaga universiteta im. Ya. Kupaly. 2 (150). pp. 6–15.
Kovkel’, N.F. (2009) Logika i yazyk zakona [Logic and Language of Law]. Minsk: Pravo i ekonomika.
Kovkel’, N.F. (2010) O probleme samostoyatel’nosti ponyatiya “pravovoy yazyk” [On the Problem of Independence of the Concept “Legal Language”]. Vestnik BGEU. 2 (79). pp. 88–95.
Kovkel’, N.F. (2011a) Sootnoshenie pravovogo yazyka s estestvennymi i iskusstvennymi yazykami [Correlation of Legal Language with Natural and Artificial Languages]. Vestnik BGEU. 6 (89). pp. 101–106.
Kovkel’, N.F. (2012) Osobennosti stilistiki tekstov normativnykh pravovykh aktov [Features of the style of texts of normative legal acts]. Vestnik BGEU. 3 (92). pp. 88–95.
Kovkel’, N.F. (2013a) Basic Elements of the Legal Language Structure. Vestnik Permskogo universiteta – Perm University Herald. 4(22). pp. 44–51. (In Russian).
Kovkel’, N.F. (2015) Pravovaya semiotika: osobennosti formirovaniya i osnovnye kontsepty [Legal Semiotics: Features of Formation and Basic Concepts]. Pravo. by. 2 (34). pp. 57–63.
Kovkel’, N.F. (2015) Problemy legitimatsii prava v kontekste semioticheskogo analiza [Problems of Legitimization of Law in the Context of Semiotic Analysis]. In: Denisenko, V.V. (ed.) Priznanie prava i printsip formal’nogo ravenstva [Recognition of Law and the Principle of Formal Equality]. Moscow: Sovremennaya ekonomika i pravo. pp. 216–232.
Kovkel’, N.F. (2017a) Semiotics of Law: The Problems of Defining Basic Concepts and Selecting the Paradigm. Pravovedenie. 4. pp. 38–59. (In Russian).
Kovkel’, N.F. (2017b) Semioticheskiy podkhod k ponimaniyu prava i metodologicheskiy potentsial ego vliyaniya na razvitie yurisprudentsii [A Semiotic Approach to Understanding Law and the Methodological Potential of Its Influence on the Development of Jurisprudence]. In: Pavlov, V.I. & Savenko, A.L. (eds) Sovremennye podkhody k ponimaniyu prava i ikh vliyanie na razvitie otraslevoy yuridicheskoy nauki, zakonodatel’stva i pravoprimenitel’noy praktiki [Modern Approaches to Understanding Law and Their Influence on the Development of Branches of Legal Science, Legislation and Law Enforcement Practice]. Minsk: MIA Academy. pp. 113–125.
Kovkel’, N.F. (2017c) Semioticheskie strategii, metody i modeli pravovoy interpretatsii [Semiotic Strategies, Methods and Models of Legal Interpretation]. In: Tonkov, E.N. & Chestnov, I.L. (eds) Paradigmy yuridicheskoy germenevtiki [Paradigms of Legal Hermeneutics]. St. Petersburg: Aleteyya. pp. 103–132.
Kovkel’, N.F. (2018) Pravovaya semiosfera kak kontsept kul’tural’nogo izmereniya prava [The Legal Semiosphere as a Concept of the Cultural Dimension of Law]. In: Tonkov, E.N. & Chestnov, I.L. (eds) Kul’tural’nye issledovaniya prava [Cultural Studies of Law]. St. Petersburg: Aleteyya. pp. 153–170.
Kress, G. (2010) Multimodality. A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication. London: Routledge.
Kress, G. (2016) Social Semiotics and the Challenge of Multimodality. Translated from English. Politicheskaya nauka – Political Science. 3. pp. 77–100. (In Russian).
Kress, G. & Leeuwen, T. (2001) Multimodal Discourse: The Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication. London: Edward Arnold.
Kurtzman, J. & Gordon, P. (1987) Da sginet smert’! Pobeda nad stareniem i prodlenie chelovecheskoy zhizni [No More Dying: The Conquest of Aging and the Extension of Human Life]. Translated from English. Moscow: Mir.
Kurzon, D. (1988) Prolegomena to a Speech Act Approach to Hearsay Evidence. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law/Revue Internationale de Sémiotique Juridique. 1. pp. 263–273.
Landowski, E. (1985) Semiotics in Social Science Research. In: Carzo, D. & Jackson, B.S. (eds) Semiotics, Law and Social Science. Rome and Liverpool: Gangemi Editore and Liverpool Law Review. pp. 69–79.
Landowski, E. (1988) “Sémiologie juridique”, “Sémiotique juridique”. In: Arnaud, A.J. et al. (eds) Dictionnaire de théorie et de sociologie du droit. Paris and Bruxelles: L.G.D.J. and E. Story-Scientia. pp. 368–372.
Landowski, E. (1988) Towards a Semiotic and Narrative Approach to Law. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law/Revue Internationale de Sémiotique Juridique. 1. pp. 79–105.
Lizza, J.P. (2005) Potentiality, Irreversibility, and Death. J. Med. and Philos. 30(1). pp. 45–64.
Melik-Gaykazyan, I.V. (1997) Informatsionnye protsessy i real’nost’ [Information Processes and Reality]. Moscow: Nauka.
Melik-Gaykazyan, I.V. (2007) Vozdeystvie menyayushchegosya mira kak informatsionnyy protsess [The Impact of a Changing World as an Information Process]. Chelovek, 3. pp. 32–43.
Melik-Gaykazyan, I.V. (2009) Ideya protsessa i problema izmereniya [The Idea of the Process and the Measurement Problem]. Epistemologiya i filosofiya nauki – Epistemology & Philosophy of Science. 20(2). pp. 127–141. DOI: 10.5840/eps200920267
Melik-Gaykazyan, I.V. (2018) Diagnosis of bioethics models. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta Filosofiya. Sotsiologiya. Politologiya – Tomsk State University Journal of Philosophy, Sociology and Political Science. 45. pp. 75–82. (In Russian). DOI: 10.17223/1998863X/45/8
Melik-Gaykazyan, I.V. (2018) Peresechenie bioetiki i sinergetiki: obkhodnoy manevr nereshennoy problemy izmereniya v gumanitarnykh issledovaniyakh [The Intersection of Bioethics and Synergetics: A Workaround for the Unresolved Measurement Problem in Humanitarian Research]. In: Tishchenko, P.D. (ed.) Konvergentsiya tekhnologiy i divergentsiya budushchego cheloveka (materialy 2018 goda): Rabochie tetradi po bioetike [Convergence of Technologies and Divergence of the Future Person (2018 Materials): Workbooks on Bioethics]. Moscow: Moscow gumanitarnogo universiteta, pp. 93-95.
Melik-Gaykazyan, I.V. & Meshcheryakova, T.V. (2015) The Hippocratic Oath: The Transformation of Its Semantics and the Revival of Its Pragmatics. Schole. Filosofskoe antikovedenie i klassicheskaya traditsiya – Ancient Philosophy and the Classical Tradition. 9(1). pp. 35–44. (In Russian).
Melik-Gaykazyan, I.V. et al. (2017) Information Model for Management in the Area of Convergent Technologies. Proceedings of The 29th International Business Information Management Association Conference (IBIMA). Vienna. 3–4 May 2017. Vienna: [s.n.]. pp. 429–434.
Melik-Gaykazyan, I.V., Gorbuleva, M.S., Vengerovsky, A.I. & Melik-Gaykazyan, M.V. (2017) Semiotic Diagnostics of Social Transformations. Proceedings of The 29th International Business Information Management Association Conference (IBIMA). Vienna. 3–4 May 2017. Vienna: [s.n.]. pp. 435–439.
Melik-Gaykazyan, I.V., Melik-Gaykazyan, M.V., Mescheryakova, T.V. & Sokolova, N.S. (2016) Model of Bioethics as “Semiotic Attractors” for Diagnosing Innovative Strategies of Training Specialists for Nbics-Technologies Niche. SHS Web of Conferences. 28. pp. 01069. DOI: 10.1051/shsconf/20162801069
Melik-Gaykazyan, M.V. & Tarasenko, V.F. (2018) Projective Consulting on the “Axis of Syntactics”. ΠΡΑΞΗΜΑ. Problemy vizual’noy semiotiki – ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 4. pp. 169–185. (In Russian). DOI: 10.23951/2312-7899-2018-4-169-185
Mellinkoff, D. (1963) The Language of the Law. Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Co.
Mescheryakova, T.V., Melik-Gaykazyan, I.V., Melik-Gaykazyan, M.V. & Kirilenko, B.O. (2016) Place of Bioethics in Knowledge Management in the Information Society. Vision 2020: Innovation Management, Development Sustainability, and Competitive Economic Growth. Proceedings of the 28th International Business Information Management Association Conference. Seville, Spain: [s.n.]. pp. 2187–2191.
Oppenheim, F. (1944) Outline of a Logical Analysis of Law. Philosophy of Science. 11(3). pp. 142–160.
Peirce, Ch.S. (2000) Izbrannye filosofskie proizvedeniya [Selected Philosophical Works]. Translated from English by K. Golubovich, K. Chukhrukidze, T. Dmitriev. Moscow: Logos. p. 225.
Petrilli, S. & Ponzio, A. (2007) Semiotics Today. From Global Semiotics to Semioethics, a Dialogic Response. Signs. 1. pp. 29–127.
Popova, O.V. (2013) Chelovek kak tekst i etika chitatelya [Man as a Text and Reader’s Ethics]. In: Maylenova, F.G. (ed.) Bioetika i gumanitarnaya ekspertiza [Bioethics and Humanitarian Expert Examination]. Is. 7. Moscow: Institute of Philosophy RAS.
Popova, O.V. (2017a) Design of Human as Test Subject. Bioetika. 2 (20). pp. 17–21. (In Russian).
Popova, O.V. (2017b) Chelovek kak artefakt biotekhnologiy [Man as an Artifact of Biotechnology]. Moscow: Kanon+.
Sbisà M. & Fabbri P. (1981) Models (?) for a Pragmatic Analysis. Journal of Pragmatics. 4. pp. 301–319.
Scarpelli, U. (1985) Contributo alla semantica del linguaggio normativo. 2nd ed. Milan: Giuffrè.
Shewmon, D. (2001) The Brain and Somatic Integration: Insights into the Standard Biological Rationale for Equating “Brain Death” With Death. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. 26(5). pp. 457–478.
Solomonik A. (2004) Pozitivnaya semiotika (o znakakh, znakovykh sistemakh i semioticheskoy deyatel’nosti) [Positive Semiotics (About Signs, Sign Systems and Semiotic Activity)]. Minsk: MET.
The President’s Council on Bioethics. (2008) Controversies in the Determination of Death. Washington, D.C.: President’s Council on Bioethics.
Tishchenko, P.D. (2001) Bio-vlast’ v epokhu biotekhnologiy [Bio-Power in the Era of Biotechnology]. Moscow: Institute of Philosophy RAS.
Tishchenko, P.D. (2011) Na granyakh zhizni i smerti. Filosofskie issledovaniya osnovaniy bioetiki [On the Brink of Life and Death. Philosophical Studies of the Foundations of Bioethics]. St. Petersburg: Mir”.
Wagner, A. & Broekman, J.M. (2011) Promises and Prospects of Legal Semiotics – An Introduction. In: Wagner, A. & Broekman, J.M. (eds) Prospects of Legal Semiotics. Springer Netherlands. pp. V–XVII.
Welby, V. (1903) What Is Meaning? Studies in the Development of Significance. London: Macmillan and Co; New York: The Macmillan Company.
Yudin, B.G. (2014) Scientific Cognition of Human Being and Values. Znanie. Ponimanie. Umenie – Knowledge. Understanding. Skill. 1. (In Russian).
( 401.52 kB ) 
( 390.09 kB )
Issue: 4, 2019
Series of issue: Issue 4
Rubric: ARTICLES
Pages: 126 — 155
Downloads: 888