The explanatory demands of grounding in law

Chilovi, S. and Pavlakos, G. (2022) The explanatory demands of grounding in law. Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 103(4), pp. 900-933. (doi: 10.1111/papq.12393)

Abstract

A new strategy in philosophy of law appeals to explanatory gap arguments to attack legal positivism. We argue that the strategy faces a dilemma, which derives from two available readings of the constraint it places on legal grounding. To this end, we elaborate the most promising ways of spelling out the epistemic constraints governing law-determination and show that each of the arguments based on them has problems. Throughout the paper, we evaluate a number of explanatory requirements, ultimately with a view to shedding light on the explanatory nature of both grounding in general and legal grounding in particular.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Chilovi, Mr Samuele and Pavlakos, Professor George
• Authors: Chilovi, S., and Pavlakos, G.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Law
• Journal Name: Pacific Philosophical Quarterly
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 0279-0750
• ISSN (Online): 1468-0114
• Published Online: 08 November 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 University of Southern California and John Wiley and Sons Ltd
• First Published: First published in Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 103(4): 900-933
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy