An Analysis of Thomas Kuhn's Paradigmatic Thinking with Emphasis on Iranian Contract Law

Abstract

Emphasizing the Kuhnian theory of paradigms and applying a transcendental approach focused on the theoretical basis and theory-laden theory will result in a contextual understanding for law and legal propositions. Therefore, this study begins with addressing constitutive elements of Kuhn's doctrine and applying his method to law and legal propositions. By elaborating different ideas regarding the very concept of paradigm, we will conclude that what we mean by legal paradigm is neither a mental context, nor simply epistemological, anthropological, normative, and methodological foundations of the legislator which can be chosen arbitrarily. On the contrary, the legal Paradigm is an epistemological context that has a hidden, vivid, inclusive, influential, and harmonizing reality. Finally, and based on the notion of paradigm, we try to pursue the paradigmatic doctrine in Iranian civil law and specifically in legal contracts. This paper concludes that importing incommensurable modern west's presuppositions and propositions has led to a deficient paradigmatic shift in Iranian civil law and specifically concerning the legal contracts. It shows the sovereignty of two parallel (opponent and incommensurable) paradigms. Emphasizing the semantic system of the paradigm in Cohen's thought, and of course with a transcendental view, focused on theoretical foundations and with a theoretical tone, results in a contextual understanding of law and its propositions.