El pensamiento de François Génymetodología, epistemología y ontología jurídica

Abstract

François Gény's legal thinking marked a whole generation of jurists. He managed to establish himself as one of the most important figures in legal thought at the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, both in legal theory and legal practice. His ideas crossed borders and continents and influenced the development and consolidation of both continental and Anglo-Saxon legal thought. His success was due to the richness and novelty of his ideas. However, François Gény's ideas were partially received and understood outside the more complex context of his thinking, which led him to be labelled "sociologist" or even "legalist". However, François Gény developed a theory of law that was unique in its time. Starting from a critique of the exegetical method used by the jurists of his time, François Gény constructed a new method for law that would lead him definitively to recompose a complete theory of law (methodology, epistemology, ontology). His genius lies in having shown that the legal science defended by the Exegetical school must be fought from its methodological premises. In this way, by showing the deficiencies of the exegetical method and its most particular applications, the way is opened for the questioning of the epistemological and ontological premises on which it is grounded. Thus, François Gény embarked on the path of reconstruction and refounding of law on the basis of the criticism of a method and a school (exegetical) that is short-sighted regarding the evolution of science, social changes, the new currents of general philosophy and the new legal and iusphilosophical doctrines. François Gény proposed a legal method open to other scientific and non-scientific disciplines. He analysed and extracted from contemporary legal thought (legal sociologism, legal idealism, legalism, iuspublicism, etc.), from the iusphilosophical thought bequeathed to us by tradition, as well as from the social sciences and philosophy of his time, everything that made it possible to complete the narrow vision of the Exegetical school. The legal thought of François Gény represents the most successful and finished attempt to construct an objective and scientific legal theory in the last century. The preponderant weight, in recent decades, of legal methodology within the theory and philosophy of law is proof of the current need for an epistemological and ontological refounding of law from its most practical and methodological aspects. Hence the relevance and usefulness of François Gény's legal thinking. For this reason we have considered it necessary, at the dawn of the 21st century, to revive the legal thought of François Gény, overcoming the partial and biased interpretations of his thought and doing justice to his ideas. With regard to the methodology followed in this work, we have first tried to recompose the system of his thought in order to clearly show the mechanics and functioning of the system he proposes. The mechanics of François Gény's system lies in the interpenetration of two separate fields, on the one hand the field of the science of law and on the other the field of the technique of law. Secondly, we have contrasted his thought with the main ideas that have drawn the historical evolution of the iusphilosophical thought of the West, from Aristotle to the present day, including the most recent contributions of legal methodology. In this way, we have been able to resituate the thought of François Gény within the more general framework of current iusphilosophical thought and show its relevance for the theory and philosophy of law of our time.