In Quest of Sense. The Way Towards an Aesthetics of Law through Law and Humanities

• Published in: Law and literature 2021-06, Vol.33 (2), p.171-188
• Main Author: Mittica, M. Paola
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aesthetics; Behavior; Emotions; Epistemology; Ethics; feeling; Humanities; Intelligence; Justice; Law; law & humanities; Literary devices; sense
• ISSN: 1535-685X; 1541-2601
• DOI: 10.1080/1535685X.2021.1847795

In the context of an epistemological revolution that subverts traditional juridical science, and that places "feeling" at the center of the reflection on the homo juridicus, Aesthetics opens a path to a more complex elaboration of sense that guides human behavior. The general goal of this article is to contribute to the development of an Aesthetics of Law that uses Law and Humanities as a methodology addressed primarily to jurists to experience sense. More specifically, my first aim is to clarify the concepts of sense and form that interest us, by holding together both the rational qualities and the affective and sensory feelings of human intelligence that influence the experience of living. Moreover, I intend to highlight the link between Ethics and Aesthetics and between feeling and law, to approach legal norm as an aesthetic object, as a form open to the quest for sense, where the quest for sense is a search for justice and the common good. Finally, I propose an exercise of Law and Humanities, imagining two encounters experienced in front of the Annunciation by Beato Angelico and the Annunciation of Mary by Rainer Maria Rilke, respectively, to show how jurists can cultivate their sensibilities through contact with artworks.