Jürgen Habermas tells us that he has been influenced by pragmatism in three areas of his intellectual development: epistemology, social theory, and political theory. In this essay I would like to include a further area of Habermas' intellectual development where one could likewise suppose the influence of pragmatism: the philosophy of Law. The presentation will be divided in two sections. First, I will focus specifically on Charles S. Peirce's epistemological contributions, as it is in this author that Habermas has searched for the basis of his theory of communicative rationality. Second, I will say something about Peirce's influences on Habermas' discursive-theoretical theory of Law, and present Karl-Otto Apel's proposal as a heuristic counterpoint. The theme here explored is the possibility of framing Habermas philosophy of Law in the pragmatist tradition that descends from Peirce. Certainly, the defense of a realist philosophical perspective in terms of normative validity places their theoretical framework in continuity, while at the same time, in conflict with recent pragmatist proposals in epistemology and the Law.
Legal Pragmatism; Philosophical Realism; Charles S. Peirce; Jürgen Habermas; Karl-Otto Apel