FOUNDATIONS OF PARADIGMATIC THINKING IN LEGAL SCIENCE

Abstract

Paradigmatic thinking has not yet fully entered Kazakhstan’s legal science, but it holds the potential to play a key role in making sound constitutional and legislative decisions. The concept of a paradigm provides a foundation for systematizing the history, philosophy, and science of law, contributing to the evolutionary development of law and fostering harmony between national identity and legislative processes.

A paradigm can be seen as the «lens» through which scholars view the world and its processes. Kazakhstan’s Soviet past, along with Western legal doctrines, continues to influence its jurisprudence. All post-Soviet nations have drawn their legal foundations from Eurocentric and Americentric sources, which developed in different historical and cultural contexts.

Legal norms shaped in other environments do not always fit a specific society. For instance, China’s Social Credit System, rooted in Confucian ethics, fits their context but is often criticized by Western nations. Such a system would contradict the Kazakh people’s deep-seated idea of freedom. Yet, theoretically, at this stage in Kazakhstan’s legal development, such misguided decisions remain possible due to the absence of paradigmatic thinking.

Paradigmatic legal thinking is based on philosophical, historical, and scientific premises that guide decision-making. Kazakhstan’s jurisprudence has the potential to restore its evolutionary development by returning to pre-colonial and Soviet-era philosophical traditions, a process that can be achieved through the integration of paradigmatic thinking into the legal system.