Critical thinking inside law schools. An outline

Authors

  • Raquel Medina Plana Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Keywords:

Critical thinking, legal education, positivist paradigm, critical traditions, higher education reform, Pensamiento crítico, enseñanza del derecho, paradigma positivista, tradición crítica, reforma de la educación superior

Abstract

The intention of this work is to do the mapping of the many problems that critical thinking (CT) is confronted with in the inside of law schools, taking these in their institutional role as well as tangible manifestations of legal culture. I address the significance of CT, reflecting on its philosophical origins and its possibility in our time, a time that is marked by a crisis of paradigms. We will move from theory to a more pragmatic approach based on skills, only to find different sets of difficulties. Today’s higher education institutional learning tradition is characterised by the conception and implementation of reforms which, in turn, are dominated by notions of business and commercial ethics, that are adding up to the positivist predominance that is still reigning upon legal education.

Este trabajo pretende realizar una descripción de los numerosos problemas con que se encuentra el pensamiento crítico (PC) dentro de las escuelas de derecho, entendidas desde su papel institucional pero también como manifestaciones tangibles de la cultura legal. Se destaca la importancia del PC, reflexionando sobre sus orígenes filosóficos y su posibilidad en el momento actual, marcado por una crisis de paradigmas. Después de realizar un análisis teórico, se va a pasar a realizar un enfoque más pragmático basado en habilidades, sólo para encontrar diferentes tipos de dificultades. La tradición actual de la educación superior institucional se caracteriza por la concepción e implementación de reformas que, en cambio, están dominadas por nociones de ética empresarial y comercial, que se suman al predominio positivista que sigue reinando en la educación jurídica.

DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2115429

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Author Biography

Raquel Medina Plana, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Raquel Medina Plana is Professor of Legal History and Legal Anthropology, Legal History Department, Law School, Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

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Published

09-11-2011

How to Cite

Medina Plana, R. (2011) “Critical thinking inside law schools. An outline”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 2(5), pp. 7–24. Available at: https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/139 (Accessed: 5 November 2024).