法律推理中的独特思维倾向及其可能的误区

法律推理是一种特殊的推理。它既具有推理的一般特征,也有自身的独特性。法律推理的独特性主要表现在推理主体的思维方式上。在法律推理中,人们根深蒂固地具有三种思维倾向:规则取向、概念取向与自治取向。这些思维倾向是在长期的法律推理活动中形成的,因此在法官、律师、学者等专业或经常从事法律推理的主体身上最为凸显。正因如此,它们有时也被称为法律人的思维方式或法律(人)思维。一般情况下,这些思维倾向使得相关主体更有可能得出正确的裁判结论,有助于说明判决的合法性来源,并在一定程度上增进了限权、平等、法治等对于现代社会来说极为重要的政治道德理想。但如果在一些相关理论问题上缺乏正确认识,它们也可能会给法律事业造成危害。为了推动法律领域内的知识增长与实践进步,我们要对这些思维倾向有充分、自觉的认识,一方面要承认它们的存在并给予应有的尊重;另一方面也要注意防范可能的风险。

Unique Thinking Tendencies in Legal Reasoning and their Possible Harms

Legal reasoning is a special kind of reasoning.It has both the general characteristics of reasoning and its own uniqueness.The uniqueness of legal reasoning is mainly reflected in the thinking tendency of the reasoning subject.There are three kinds of thinking tendencies in legal reasoning:rule orientation,concept orientation and autonomy orientation.These tendencies are formed in long-term legal reasoning activities,so they are most prominent among judges,lawyers,law scholars or others who often engage in legal reasoning.For this reason,they are sometimes referred to as“legal thinking”.In general,these thinking tendencies make the relevant subjects more likely to draw correct judgment conclusions,help to explain the source of the legitimacy of the judgment,and to a certain extent improve the limit of power,equality and the rule of law,which are extremely important political and moral ideals for modern society.However,if there is a lack of correct understanding on some related theoretical issues,they may also cause harm to the legal practice.In order to promote the knowledge growth and practical progress in the legal field,we should have a full and conscious understanding of these thinking tendencies.On the one hand,we should acknowledge their existence and give them due respect.On the other hand,we should also pay attention to possible risks.