Steuer, Max
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7638-5865
(2026)
From disciplines to concepts: beyond (inter-)disciplinarity in legal knowledge generation.
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.
Springer Nature
.
ISSN 2662-9992
(In Press)
Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-08415-1
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Abstract
Law is both a ubiquitous social phenomenon and an academic discipline. However, unlike with knowledge generated in many other disciplines, legal knowledge has come to sit uneasily with the notions of science. The 20 th century saw increased alienation between law and science. On the one hand, doctrinal approaches separate “legal science” from other domains of knowledge but struggle to be accepted as scientific by the broader scientific community. On the other hand, calls for infusing perspectives and methods from other disciplines into law raise questions on whether anything distinct remains in such interdisciplinary legal scholarship as opposed to its merging with other academic disciplines. The genealogy of dominant ways of legal knowledge generation as the process of creating authoritative research results that sustain and enhance the legitimacy of law as a discipline demonstrates this alienation amidst growing emphasis on “interdisciplinary” scholarship, and prompts the question of how the alienation may be remedied. This article argues that interdisciplinarity is an overly limited logic and advocates an alternative logic beyond disciplines that begins with key overarching political concepts, more than with merely interdisciplinary engagement. Legal knowledge is particularly suitable to be welcoming towards such a shift due to its interest in concepts and linkages to legal practice that underscore its practical relevance. The article argues that the study of concepts allows for a less dominating—and hence more democratic—engagement beyond disciplines, because it does not require rigid disciplinary identities. Although the focus on concepts cannot altogether replace working within disciplines, the findings point to the potential of more diverse academic spaces, often found in the “Global South”, to contribute to democratizing legal knowledge generation thanks to the relatively weaker straitjacket of disciplinary separation in general and alienation between law and science in particular in these spaces.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Law and Legal Studies |
| Depositing User: | Mr. Syed Anas Ali |
| Date Deposited: | 11 Aug 2026 08:45 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Aug 2026 08:46 |
| Official URL: | https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-08415-1 |
| Funders: | Slovak Research and Development Agency, Slovakia |
| Additional Information: | Acknowledgements The comments by BS Chimni and Rohini Sen at the Fall 2024 Third World Approaches to International Law Research Cluster Writing Workshop 2024 at Jindal Global Law School; the participants and especially the Discussants—Jean-Paul Gagnon and Norma Osterberg-Kaufmann—of the 2025 European Consortium for Political Research Workshop on ‘Paradigms of Democracy Research’, the 2026 Grand Challenges Conference of the Berlin University Alliance, the 2026 Futures Conference at the University of Turku (all three attended with the support by the EU NextGeneration EU through the Recovery and Resilience Plan for Slovakia under the project No. 09I03-03-V04-00240) and the 2026 Annual Conference of the International Society of Public Law; the editors and anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged, as is the research assistance of Nitya Nair (Jindal Global Law School). The usual disclaimer applies. |
| URI: | https://pure.jgu.edu.in/id/eprint/12184 |
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