Материал: disser_arhipov

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phenomenon deserves special attention in the context of our work as the second (after multiplayer games) polar example of a collision between serious and unserious, clearly having a legal dimension and once again confronting us with the question of the possible limits of the intervention of law not only from the point of view of morality, but also from the point of view of common sense.

Returning to the main theme of this paragraph, we emphasize that contemporary information culture in the context of the medial turn is such a socio-cultural context in which the problem of the semantic limits of law is actualized.221 The development of information technologies, which allow everyone to produce information arbitrarily and freely share it, is becoming one of the main prerequisites for the intensification of communicative practices, the subject of which is “unserious” information – from complex and multidimensional reconstructions of social systems in gaming multiuser computer environments to simpler cases of new popular forms of humor and satire, which in some cases take on social significance. What is important for us, the following empirical material clearly shows that law enforcement agencies currently do not have the necessary tools for legal argumentation in the event of specific legal conflicts under consideration, and it is to overcome this gap that this study is aimed at from practical perspective.

In culturology and sociology, the viewpoint according to which at the current stage of development of the information society a new information culture is formed, is justified. This approach is based on the idea that quantitative changes in the social impact of

“kinship connection”. Within the framework of the interpretation concept of this work, the “material” for the creation of “works” of actionism is the generalized symbolic media in the terminology of T. Parsons, which are described in more detail in Chapters 3 and 4 of this dissertation, and this is essentially different from the material for traditional works of art, although the aesthetic effect of the latter situationally may also speak of “social and currency value” in some cases. Therefore, the legal assessment of radical examples of corporatism cannot be considered absurd from the point of view of jurisprudence, and the maximum may be in the “border zone” of weighing different values in the application of the law.

221 Let us emphasize the connection of this observation with the main approaches reflected in legal theory and law. Thus, for example, S.S. Alekseev noted: “Each historically specific society objectively requires a strictly defined measure of social regulation, otherwise negative consequences for the social system are inevitable – its disorganization or, conversely, its excessive regulation (“over-organization”). This measure, which expresses the volume and intensity of social regulation, depends on the requirements of the existing social system, on the stage of development of society, the level of its organization”. See: Alexeev S.S. Theory of Law. – M.: BEK Publishing House, 1995. – P. 31.

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information and telecommunication technologies and “new media” in general are becoming qualitative, which leads to the emergence of new social practices and values, as well as changes in the old ones. These factors predetermine the changes in social relationships and, as a consequence, increase the problem area of jurisprudence. As it was planned earlier, in addition to special and often dogmatic problems of the philosophy of law, it allows thinking about new aspects of legal ontology. In a sense, it would be appropriate to cite the position of L. Lessig, a representative of the Harvard Law School (who, in addition to well known biographical information, was not only one of the founders of the scientific discourse of Internet law or “cyberlaw” and a copyright area activist and co-founder of Creative Commons as an organization promoting the system of free license models, but can also be regarded as a successor to the methodological direction of the “principles of social order” laid down by L. Lessig’s predecessor – L. Fuller). In a dispute with F. Easterbrook, who objected to the introduction of disciplines related to the study of legal aspects of the digital environment and built on the principle of integrating legal knowledge around new technological phenomena and practices, L. Lessig noted that the study of these problems at the present stage through the prism of technological architecture, can shed light on fundamental issues of law.222 As it seems to us, this idea is quite consistent with the methodology, the consistent application of which allows us to postulate the problem of the semantic limits of law as a problem of legal ontology.

In conclusion, we emphasize that the main purpose of this paragraph is to determine the current socio-cultural context of the problem of the semantic limits of law. Undoubtedly, the digital and game turns as components of the medial turn have an economic dimension as well. Facts from the economy can also be used to confirm the relevance of these trends in the development of society. Both digitalization and game

222Lessig L. The Law of the Horse: What Cyberlaw Might Teach [Electronic resource] // Berkman Center for Internet

&Society at Harvard University Website. – [Site]. – URL: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/works/lessig/finalhls.pdf (accessed: 26.01.2019).

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industry are linked to significant economic indicators. At the same time, the subject matter of this paper and its scientific novelty is connected, first of all, to the interdisciplinary research focused on jurisprudence, culturology and theoretical sociology, therefore, the economic aspect of the phenomena under consideration is noted as necessary and is presented in this context.223

Thus, the key socio-cultural factor determining the relevance and content of the problem of the semantic limits of law in the context of social-humanitarian and legal scientific discourse is the medial turn. The medial turn determines the shift of attention of science and socio-cultural practices towards the media as the main tool for constructing social reality. The most important components of the medial turn are the digital turn and the game turn. The digital turn is characterized by the “computerization” of culture, which poses new private legal problems and the general context of the universal problem of the semantic limits of law. The game turn is characterized by a rethinking of the meaning of games in culture, as well as the spread of game artifacts in culture. And, particularly relevant in the context of this study, the game егкт exacerbates the problem of simulation in the media space, including the problem of recognition of such simulations, because not everything that seems to be a simulation is a simulation, at least, for legal purposes. In 2010, J. Raessens gave the following example: “...media use may initially look like harmless, disinterested fun. Think of all the creative adaptations of StarWars on YouTube. It can also, however, become involved in political ends. Think of the Turkish court recently blocking access to YouTube because it allegedly hosted videos that attacked Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey; the element of make believe refers to the

223 However, we can note the following examples. Thus, according to experts, the volume of the digital economy in Russia may grow up to RUB 7-8.76 trillion by 2021, if the growth rate is about 10-15% per year. See: Expert: the Volume of Digital Economy can Reach 9 Trillion Rubles by 2012 [Electronic resource] // TASS. April 6, 2018. – [Site]. – URL: https://tass.ru/ekonomika/5100974/ (accessed: 26.01.2019). As for the global videogame market, according to Newzoo, the global game market is estimated at $137.9 billion at the end of 2018. See: Semyonov A. The World Market of Games Will Earn $137.9 Billion for 2018 [Electronic resource] // App2Top.ru. – [Site]. – URL: https://app2top.ru/industry/mirovoj–ry–nok–igr– zarabotaet–137–9–mlrd–za–2018–god–120106.html (accessed: 26.01.2019).

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dual nature of media”.224 In addition to their own games, new cultural practices are emerging that exacerbate the conflict between serious and unserious, fictional and real, such as actionism. There currently are no universal means of legal argumentation to resolve new conflicts, and the concept of the semantic limits of law is aimed precisely at overcoming this scientific and practical gap.

§ 5. Forming of the hypothesis of the semantic limits of law: virtual reality, absurdity and common sense

There is no doubt that the subject-matter domains of the representative normative sources and empirical material that relate to the topic of this research are not limited to those explicitly mentioned. The list is far from being exhaustive. Nevertheless, those previously mentioned areas allow forming enough material for preliminary formulation of the problem of the semantic limits of law that would be have empirical grounds. We admit that other examples are also mentioned throughout this work but not specifically detached to separate paragraphs and are dispersed through the text. The principal task that is reached by means of analysis of the examples that follow is to identify a set of characteristic traits of complexity of facts and/or argumentation that are relevant for typical instances that, in their turn, would allow to provide an intuitive yet reasoned hypothesis on the absurdity of interpretation or application of law, and in certain cases – lawmaking.

It may look that the previously mentioned examples are of different nature. However, when we speak about the problem of determining the semantic limits of law in the context of this paper, we mean quite definite scope of instances that are characterized by a set of invariant features predetermined by the context of the medial turn. Let us

224 Raessens J. The Ludic Turn in Media Theory. P. 14. The lecture on which this material is based was delivered back

in 2010.

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generalize these features in order to confine the subject-matter of the research further. Hence, in each of the situations that have been considered:

legal qualification of social relationships depends on circumstance that are external to the subject-matter of jurisprudence that is focused on the norms characterized by mutually determined rights and obligations.225 For instance, resolving of the question of contradiction to norms of morality depends on norms of morality; resolving the question of whether certain information pertains to the category of information prohibited for dissemination or not, depends on whether or not the information in question meets certain criteria etc.

the object of social relationships does not relate to things or imperatively set legal constructions (such as, for example, legal entities or obligations). In other words, it can be said that the object is not put into the context of cause and effect connection with the facts of real world that pertain to the present or the past.226 It relates to virtual, imaginary or spiritual world (e.g. problems of virtual property relate to virtual world in narrow sense of this word, while using of toy weapons in the course of robbery – to imaginary world in broad sense; at the same time, resolving of the question on contradiction to morality is connected to spiritual world).

there is no direct legitimate normative way to resolve the issue of possibility to interpret and/or apply law in respect of the issue in consideration at the present normative level or at the level of higher (in Kelsenian sense227) norm. For the purposes of

225An example of a case when the legal qualification of social relations depends on legal concepts can be a matter of law in corporate law (the structure of a legal entity and related legal structures constitute a rather clear and in its own way virtual world of legal logic) or in intellectual property law (the result of intellectual activity is, first of all, an artificially created legal object with the same features as the concepts of corporate law).

226We emphasize that this feature does not conflict with the group of examples that refers to “information that is no longer relevant due to subsequent events”. This is the case with this example, and it is necessary to establish whether the information is relevant (and then it is in a causal relationship with the facts of the real world) or not (in such a case, there is no causal relationship with the facts of the real world).

227For example..: “At the same time, the basic norm as the last ground for the validity of these [legal] norms is not established by an act of will at all, but is presupposed in legal thinking”. See: Kelsen G. Pure Theory of Law (in Russian). 2nd