Directive discourse

Kazimierz Opałek

pp. 295-310

in: Kazimierz Opałek, Selected papers in legal philosophy, Berlin, Springer, 1999

Abstract

The vast field of directive discourse is as a rule studied but in a fragmentary way, attention being mostly paid to such kinds of directives only as legal and moral norms. Their caracterization is usually supplemented in the textbooks by some general — and vague — references to the so-called norms of custom, or customary rules¹. Considerations on norms of social organizations other than the State are not much advanced², analyses of rules of games are conducted rather in the mode of constructing some model-exemplifications, as it is the case with the study of the game of chess, favoured by some scholars³. Many other types of directives in current use do not awaken sufficient interest, undoubtedly because of the absence of adequate practical grounds for their investigation.