Epistemological paradigms of Law: a look at the foundations of legal science

Abstract

The fundamental purpose of this essay is to expose the main epistemological paradigms that regulate the legal sciences, being the following: The metaphysical paradigm of law, the metaphysical-rational, the empiricist and the paradigm of linguistic theory. Particularly within the rational paradigm, Hans Kelsen’s pure theory of law is addressed, as well as the theory of force in the legal sciences and hermeneutics as a tool to reach a practical sense of legal provisions in general. It is concluded that the four epistemological paradigms lay the foundations of the legal sciences as we know them today.