Critical reflection and legal normativity

an analysis based on John Dewey´s remarks on democracy

Abstract

This present article aims to present a conception of legal normativity based on the notions of experience and critical reflection as John Dewey conceives them in his theorization of democracy. Setting aside deeper concerns related to legal theory, this research introduces a kind of juridical normativity that is not only well adjusted to the values that characterizes the democratic life form envisioned by Dewey, such as experimentalism and creativity. The research aims to explore the theoretical possibilities of a juridical normativity rooted in a form of democratic life as conceived by Dewey, with emphasis on the creation of rights, through the work of Gregory Fernando Pappas. The creation of rights is thought within the exercise of a critical self-reflexive rationality in face social transformations and political dissent. The research concludes that, even though Dewey dissociated the concept of democracy from the institutional underpinnings of society, the juridical normativity mentioned in this research could bring them closer inasmuch the democratic ethos transforms the institutions at the same time that is also modified by them.