Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2021
Publication Information
22 Chi. J. Int'l L. 136 (2021).
Abstract
Social science methodology is a useful adjunct to law, but it cannot replace the humanist ideas that constitute law. Scholars developed social science at the end of the nineteenth century and were soon using it to measure and assess material facts associated with far older intellectual disciplines like law. They have been able to confirm facts about such issues as the origins and impact of law. These studies rely, however, on a humanist definition of the object of the study. Humanist methods reveal that law is the result of transcendent concepts developed through natural law method. By the early twenty-first century, due to interest in social science and other factors, knowledge of humanism, especially around natural law, began to fade. This development has implications for the social science method, which relies on accurate characterization of law. More significantly, without knowledge of humanism, the reasons to respect and comply with law are fading. It is in the interest of social scientists and society in general to revive the humanism on which international law and all law depend. Law is simply more art than science.
Recommended Citation
Mary Ellen O'Connell,
Measuring the Art of International Law,
22 Chi. J. Int'l L. 136 (2021)..
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/1857