Through the metaphor of the “death of the legislator”, legal hermeneutics opens a new field of inquiry: what happens to the meaning of the law when the authority of its author is called into question? It is precisely this profound philosophical and legal-theoretical issue that is the focus of the lecture by Aleksandar Vukadinović, Junior Research Assistant at the Center for Legal Research of the Institute of Social Sciences.
Modern human history, particularly in the European context, has been marked by a series of radical social, political, economic, technological, axiological, and legal upheavals. Although the causes are numerous and diverse, their origins largely lie within the “realm of thought”, or more precisely, the “realm of meaning.” The last hundred years represent a period of intense re-examination of the foundations of European thought – a crisis of meaning, values, and significance – symbolically accompanied by metaphors of the “death” of fundamental concepts: the “death of God” (Friedrich Nietzsche), the “death of man” (Michel Foucault), the “death of the author” (Roland Barthes), and the “death of meaning and signification” (Jacques Derrida).
Starting from the understanding that the philosophy of law and legal interpretation theory are specialized branches of philosophy and hermeneutics, the lecture transposes these philosophical debates into the domain of law through the metaphor of the “death of the legislator”. A historical analysis of the relativization of the philosophical foundations of legal interpretation – of the relationship between text and reality, the interpreter’s ability to reach the meaning of the text, and the ethical principles governing the relationship to the text, its author, and its meaning – demonstrates how these shifts influence the practical application of law and produce political consequences for the legal order.
In contrast to dominant contemporary theories that express distrust toward the legislator as the source of meaning, Vukadinović defends the position of interpretative realism. This approach obligates the interpreter to uncover the meaning that the author has embedded in the text, thereby opening a broader discussion on the role of the interpreter, the separation of powers, and the concept of sovereignty.
This lecture is part of the cycle dedicated to presenting new researchers at the Institute of Social Sciences, with the aim of introducing the academic public to their work and research focus.