The Heritage of Cultural Determinants of Law and Literature: Methodological Findings

Abstract

AbstractDuring the second half of the twentieth century, the humanities saw increased interest in the broadly defined theory of culture and theory of politics, and in their study in a pragmatic cultural context. This was due to the influence of postmodernism, as well as pragmatism and neo-pragmatism. This approach is developed in cultural studies, which stress the importance of interdisciplinary research, combining the semiotic and cultural perspectives. The humanities have experienced a series of watersheds or turns (such as the linguistic, interpretative, political and communicative turns), and in particular the cultural turn. In consequence, the boundaries of various scientific disciplines are becoming blurred, while the scope of theoretical literary research is expanding. The integration of humanistic disciplines has intensified. This has an effect not only on the philosophical and theoretical study of language and literature, but also on the theory of politics and theory of law. As a result of these changes, various cultural objects—politics, the law, literature—have become the subject of complementary research. Cultural research assumes the cultural intertextuality of different semiotic objects, especially of text and discourse. This paper describes the influence of cultural studies—as a legacy of cultural determinants—on the law and literature movement. It also answers the question of what that movement can derive from cultural studies. The paper provides an overview of key trends, which may receive more detailed treatment in future studies.