Legal Hermeneutics and Metaethics
The Limits of Moral Objectivity in Hard Cases
The interdisciplinary project examines the impact of metaethical studies on the hermeneutic controversy on hard cases. The first part portrays that controversy by dividing it between two conflicting theses. On the one hand, the (i) indeterminacy thesis holds that the law admits multiple “right” answers. On the other hand, the (ii) right answer thesis claims that, as a branch of morality, the law provides single right answers. Properly reconstructed, the right answer thesis—as advanced by Ronald Dworkin, Klaus Günther, and Michael Moore—rests upon three respective theories of moral objectivity. Thus, a bridge is built between legal hermeneutics and metaethics, the subject that explores the plausibility of moral objectivity. The second part offers an overview of the contemporary metaethical landscape, which can be also divided into two general fields. On the one hand, (i) moral non-objectivists deny that moral judgments can be objective in any sense. On the other hand, (ii) moral objectivists hold that moral judgments are objective (although they disagree about whether in a substantive, epistemic, or metaphysical sense), which would—in theory—corroborate the right answer thesis. In contrast to both metaethical accounts, the third part holds that even if moral judgments are objective in any sense, they are nevertheless insufficient for providing single right answers in hard cases. Two main reasons are given: (i) moral insignificance, given that a substantial number of hard cases emerge independently of any moral considerations; (ii) moral indeterminacy, which—whether conceived in terms of incommensurability or judicial dilemmas—gives rise to multiple “right” answers. Bringing together two areas of knowledge—legal hermeneutics and metaethics—, the primary objective of the project is to explore the methodological plausibility of the right answer thesis’ foundations by investigating to what extent moral objectivity affects the debate on hard cases.
| Research outcome: | doctoral thesis at the University of Freiburg |
|---|---|
| Research focus: | 1. Fundamentals: Theoretical Foundations and Doctrinal Structures |
| Time frame: | 2020–2025 |
| Project language: | English |
| Project status: | completed |
| Graph: | © Rafael Giorgio Dalla Barba |
Key publication
Workshop | Talks
Talks
- Direito, moralidade e metaética. Presented at Aprendimentos Direito, Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), 03/21/2024.
- Critical Remarks on Ralf Poscher’s ‘The Hand of Midas’. Presented at Conceptual Engineering and the Law Workshop, MPI-CSL, 04/28/2023.
