The Ontology of Law in the Prism of Institutionalism, Sociological Positivism and Modern Concepts of Realism

In modern legal science, there is a debate between proponents of various doctrinal approaches (institutionalism, positivism, and the natural law approach) about the nature of law and its ontological essence. Technological and social changes are constantly outpacing legislation, which requires the search for new tools to form an optimal legal order. It is important to overcome the methodological limitations of traditional approaches through the recognition of the independent ontological status of universal legal phenomena. The main purpose of the article is to explore the possibility of developing an actual model of legal reality through the synthesis of traditional trends of positivism, institutionalism and modern concepts of realism. To achieve this goal, the tasks of reviewing the objectivist theory of legal norms and the institutional theory of law are solved; consideration of the possibility of using modern concepts of “dark philosophy” to understand the essence of legal phenomena; an attempt to synthesize theoretical, legal and philosophical concepts to create a unified model of legal reality; the study of the impact of new ontological approaches on legal practice. The research is conducted using a set of general scientific and private scientific methods of cognition: induction, empirical analysis, historical‑legal, dialectical, structural‑functional, normative‑value and theoretical‑predictive methods. Based on the results of the work, the methodological potential of the synthesis of classical sociological and legal doctrines (Hauriou’s institutionalism, Duguit’s sociological positivism) and modern philosophical trends (speculative realism, object‑oriented ontology) is substantiated. The key importance is attached to communicative processes in which intersubjective meanings are objectified, forming a legal reality independent of the will of the subjects. An object‑communicative model of legal reality is proposed, based on the foundations of object ontology and the principle of legitimization of legal phenomena through communicative acts. This model allows us to consider law as a living, heterogenous, self‑organizing system of interacting actors.