The experimental philosophy of law: New ways, old questions, and how not to get lost

Abstract

The experimental philosophy of law is a recent movement that aims to inform traditional debates in jurisprudence by conducting empirical research. This paper introduces and provides a systematic overview of the main lines of research in this field. It also covers the most important debates in the literature regarding the implications of these findings for the philosophy and theory of law. It argues that three challenges arise when addressing (old) legal-philosophical questions in (new) experimental ways by drawing normative implications from empirical data: such implications are value-driven, depend on explanations of empirical findings and vary across legal systems.