B4126 - Sem Legal Theory, Legal Reasoning and General Research Methodology

Learning outcomes

The seminar "Legal Theory, Legal Reasoning, and General Research Methodology" is designed to help law students develop theoretical thinking skills by analyzing the arguments used in legal theory in reasoning about fundamental legal concepts: we will be analyzing the structure of important papers in legal theory to see how they are framed, we will criticize the underlying arguments and construct alternative solutions, we will focus more generally on how arguments can be framed, which fallacies we should avoid, and how we should organize our thinking in framing a research question, finding an answer and supporting it. Students are expected to come to the seminar having already familiarized themselves with the required reading: in this way, instead of taking up time to set up the arguments in class, we can focus directly on their merits and structure in discussion.

Course contents

Notice: This is a seminar in advanced legal theory, so students will be expected to have a background in legal theory and legal philosophy and to have a genuine interest in theoretical matters about the law and its nature. In discussing these issues, we will address relevant questions about the methodology of research and academic writing, among which the structure of conjectures and arguments, the possible ways of framing an argument, some relevant logical fallacies, and the way in which research work is better organized.

This year's seminar explores that question through four essays: Luka Burazin's account of the methodology of (Continental European) legal science, Riccardo Guastini's account of the two faces of analytic legal philosophy, Kenneth Einar Himma's introduction to conceptual jurisprudence, and Hernán Bouvier, Paula Gaido and Rodrigo Sánchez Brígido's reconstruction of the debate among Joseph Raz, Robert Alexy and Eugenio Bulygin on the relationship between the concept and the nature of law.

Readings/Bibliography

All the texts will be shared online on Virtuale as PDF files. They are in any case available also through the Unibo Library Service and AlmaStart at: https://sba.unibo.it/it.

Here are the papers:

1- Burazin, L. (2026). "Methodology of (Continental European) Legal Science: Research Objectives, Questions, and Methods". Isonomía – Revista de teoría y filosofía del derecho, (64), 1–35. https://doi.org/10.5347/64/2026/873

2- R. Guastini, The Two Faces of Analytic Legal Philosophy, in P. Banaś, A. Dyrda & T. Gizbert-Studnicki (eds.), Metaphilosophy of Law, Portland, Oregon, Hart, 2016, pp. 37-47.

3- K.E. Himma, Conceptual Jurisprudence: An Introduction to Conceptual Analysis and Methodology in Legal Theory, in "Revus" 26, 2015, pp. 65-92.

4- H.G. Bouvier, P. Gaido & R.E. Sánchez Brígido, Legal Theory and Conceptual Analysis, in "Ratio Juris" 39 (1), 2026.

Teaching methods

The seminar will consist of five classes, each of two hours. In the first meeting, I will provide students with some ideas about the structure of conjectures and arguments, in the second, third, and fourth meetings we will discuss the papers, and in the last meeting I will introduce students to some guidelines about research methodology, also in the light of the previous discussion.

Students are required to read the articles before the meetings.

During the discussion, all students are required to take part in the conversation, reconstructing the argumentative structure of the texts and assessing it critically. Students will be encouraged to try to formulate their own conjectures and objections by addressing directly the arguments developed in the papers, as if engaging in a virtual conversation with the authors themselves.

Assessment methods

Written exam with open questions. The exam will be aimed at evaluating the students’ knowledge of the papers covered by the course but also their ability to critically think through the theoretical and methodological issues discussed in class.

Teaching tools

I will use Virtuale to share the texts of the articles to be discussed and the Power Point presentation, in which I will present visually also the guidelines for research methodology.

Office hours

See the website of Maria Victoria Inostroza