Between Promise and Contract: The Limits of Application of Philosophical Discourse on Promises to Theory of Contract Law

The concept of promise may be very interesting for legal theorists, especially contract law theorists. The article aims to briefly discuss the issue of promises in contemporary analytic philosophy and show some of its possible applications in legal theory. Three basic approaches will be distinguishe...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Szymon Osmola
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre for Philosophical Research 2018-04-01
Series:Avant: Journal of Philosophical-Interdisciplinary Vanguard
Subjects:
Online Access:http://avant.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/Osmola-Miedzy-obietnica-a-umow%C4%85.pdf
Description
Summary:The concept of promise may be very interesting for legal theorists, especially contract law theorists. The article aims to briefly discuss the issue of promises in contemporary analytic philosophy and show some of its possible applications in legal theory. Three basic approaches will be distinguished: the contract as a promise paradigm (in C. Fried’s formulation) and two ways of its critique: formal and material. The contract as a promise paradigm will be rejected as incapable of coping with, among others, the so-called autonomy paradox. Arguments of formally-affected critics will be recognized as basically correct but impossible to be fully accepted because of their formalism. Some propositions of the material critique will be deemed the most promising, despite their incompleteness and numerous errors.
ISSN:2082-7598
2082-6710