Abstract

The article presents six pragmatist theses about law. They can be argued for starting from Peirce's writings and concern law as determined by social and inferential practices. The theses are these: (1) the meaning of legal terms is inferentially determined; (2) the inferences performed in legal reasoning are not only deductive but also inductive and abductive; (3) the creativity of legal interpretation does not compromise its objectivity; (4) legal relations depend on social and inferential practices; (5) creativity, force and rationality are dimensions of law; (6) law is a part of ethics that pursues the good in social and institutional contexts.