We invite you to listen to the Episode 8 of the Heavily Accented Philosophy of Law Podcast that features Professor Mathieu Carpentier (University of Toulouse Capitole & Institut Universitaire de France), who discusses legal validity through the lens of concept-construction methodology.
In this Podcast episode titled: “Legal Validity and Concept-Construction Methodology” Professor Carpentier presents legal validity as a cluster concept—made of multiple core elements—and unpacks what this means for legal theory, especially in the context of debates around legal positivism. During the this ALF HAPL epizode, we delve into the debate about legal validity and concept-construction methodology. What is exactly legal validity? What would be the most adequate way to construct a concept of legal validity? How is the idea of cluster concepts important for this debate? Do theoretical or conceptual distinctions have any practical relevance? Mathieu Carpentier discussed with us why legal validity is a key concept for legal theory and why it is better understood as a cluster concept, broken down into more elementary units of meaning. We explore first how – and why – a cluster concept-construction methodology is more useful than other methodologies and then explore in-depth the elementary units Carpentier identify related to the concept of legal validity, as well as the internal relations among these units. Finally, touch upon the impact of all of these on the definition of the rule of recognition, and the relevance of this discussion and distinctions to legal positivism (including the inclusive and exclusive legal positivism debate).
This ALF HAPL episode is available on the following link: https://castro.fm/episode/cyjX78
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