反思法学的实践性

Reflections on the Practicalness of Jurisprudence

当代中国法学界将法学看作具有实践性的学问,并将实践性理解为经世致用的研究立场、具体问题的研究导向以及价值参与的研究态度,但这是对"实践性"这一术语的误用。同时,法学家对法学自身的性质也存在误解,包括夸大法学相对于其他学科而言的实践性、认为法学背离了自身原有的实践性以及主张通过实践检验法学知识的正确性。要准确理解法学的实践性,必须正确看待法学发展的不同阶段、法学内部的不同学科以及法学自身的知识性质。在法学语境中,实践性只能被理解为法学因其独特的研究对象而与实践有关,但法学作为一种知识并无特殊之处,法学与实践保持距离符合其内在发展规律,法学因其知识性质而不依赖实践检验。法学与实践之间呈现出一种后者自前者间接而非直接受益的关系。

Contemporary Chinese jurists,by misusing the terminology,not only regarded jurisprudence as a practical knowledge,which is supposed to be useful,focusing on concrete problems and committed to value,but also mistook jurisprudence as a more practical knowledge than the others,deviating from its own practicalness and being tested by practice.Only if the phases,the construction and the nature of jurisprudence being properly evaluated,could the practicalness of it be correctly understood.In the context of jurisprudence,practicalness of which can only mean one thing:jurisprudence derives practicalness from its subject,the law.Hence as a knowledge with analyticities,jurisprudence does not differ from the others,has to keep a distance with and cannot be tested by legal practice.Nevertheless,legal practice can only benefit from jurisprudence indirectly.