O roli literatury w kształtowaniu cnót wśród sędziów
On the role of literature in the formation of virtues among judges

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on the relationship between law and literature by analyz-ing the influence of literature on applying the law by judges. The main goalis to show the positive impact that literary fiction can have on the applica-tion of law by courts, especially through the prism of moral education of judg-es. The starting point of the considerations is the problem of the hard cases.Through their prism the requirement for knowledge beyond that directly re-lated to law is shown. In this respect, the concept of “life experience” was also referred to, in order to show that the need for non-legal knowledge among judg-es also applies to typical situations. Then, reference was made to the virtue juris-prudence. By referring to the theoretical instruments of virtue ethics, the meta-virtue of practical wisdom was indicated as a disposition necessary to performthe function of a judge well. Particular emphasis was placed on epistemic mod-esty, understood as awareness of the limitations of one’s expertise and the de-sire to expand it. This remark is followed by description how literature is a use-ful tool for promoting the acquisition of this meta-virtue. On the above basis,conclusions were drawn regarding the positive impact of literature on the moraldevelopment of judges and, therefore, on their application of the law. The mainmethod used in this article is the analytical, dogmatic method and the applica-tion of the theory of virtue ethics.

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