Publisher's Synopsis
This book gives an overview of the most relevant disciplines for interdisciplinary research on law. What are the characteristics of these disciplines one really needs to understand in order to do research that combines law with them? The book consists of three parts. The first part addresses general questions about legal scholarship and interdisciplinary research. These are questions of the aims and character of academic research and what it means to regard issues from different disciplinary perspectives. Furthermore, the particular character of the discipline of law and its methods are discussed. The second part consists of chapters exploring the relationship between law and other disciplines. Each chapter addresses questions of the characteristic methods of that discipline, its relevance to law and the problems to be tackled. The disciplines are classified in broadly three categories: empirical social science (sociology, economics, psychology), humanities (history, political theory, ethics, philosophy), and language-oriented disciplines (rhetoric, law and literature, argumentation theory). The third part contains examples of interdisciplinary research in practice: How is it done, what kinds of problems arise when doing such research, and what insights into law does it provide?
The intended audience consists of law students who participate in research master programs or PhD students who are confronted with methodological questions about law in relation to other disciplines. The book will also be of interest to other legal researchers who are looking for an accessible introduction to the main fields of interdisciplinary research.
