Descripción del proyecto
Repensar la agencia jurídica y cuestionar las normas
En el ámbito del derecho, la dicotomía entre agentes y no agentes determina la forma de entender la toma de decisiones y la responsabilidad. El concepto predominante de agencia liberal, arraigado en la tradición liberal del siglo XIX, excluye a quienes son considerados menos racionales como, por ejemplo, las personas con discapacidad, la inteligencia artificial o los animales no humanos. Sin embargo, la percepción de la agencia jurídica ha evolucionado para tener en cuenta los cambios en la sociedad. Además, muchas personas cuestionan esa visión estricta. Por ejemplo, la Convención sobre los Derechos de las Personas con Discapacidad obliga a tratar a estas personas como agentes. En el proyecto LEGACY, financiado por el Consejo Europeo de Investigación, se pretende reevaluar de forma exhaustiva la agencia jurídica, investigando los retos contemporáneos y proponiendo una teoría unificadora. En general, el objetivo de LEGACY es revelar el contexto histórico de la agencia liberal, analizar los debates actuales y formular una teoría holística para navegar por el cambiante panorama de la agencia jurídica.
Objetivo
The distinction between agents and non-agents is central in law: only agents can decide about their affairs, enter contracts or be held responsible for their actions. Western law has since the 19th century relied on an understanding of agency that has developed in the liberal tradition of thought. According to this “Liberal Agency”, agents are highly rational human individuals. Persons with cognitive disabilities, artificial intelligences, and nonhuman animals are therefore not agents because of their lack of rationality or humanity. This view of agency is deeply embedded in Western legal systems.
Liberal Agency has recently come under increasing criticism and challenges. Many now argue that persons with disabilities, artificial intelligences and/or nonhuman animals could in fact be treated as agents. However, these criticisms have been narrow in scope, and the debate is overall highly fragmented.
LEGACY, situated within legal philosophy and history, will offer a comprehensive reappraisal of legal agency. It will investigate three main questions: First, how did Liberal Agency become the dominant understanding of agency in law? Second, what challenges confront Liberal Agency today? And finally, what kind of a theory can best explain the evolving notion of agency in law?
The objectives of the project are to deliver:
(1) a systematic understanding of the historical background and context of Liberal Agency, its spread in Western legal thought, and its challengers;
(2) an in-depth analysis of contemporary agency accounts that incorporates and conceptualizes the historical insights with a systematic understanding of the contemporary debates; and
(3) a theory of agency that provides an overall synthesis of the accounts and can explain, reconcile and/or solve the outlined contemporary challenges.
The project will thus develop a historically informed, comprehensive and rigorous understanding of legal agency, based on a broad synthesis of legal and philosophical thought.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsInstitución de acogida
00014 Helsingin Yliopisto
Finlandia