Normas derrotables: La concepción de Carlos Alchourrón

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is, in the first place, to provide an informal analysis of the main ideas of Carlos Alchourrón' s philosophical conception about the nature of defeasible languages, and in particular about that of normative languages. This conception, which constitutes also the background for his proposals in the field of the logic of defeasible conditionals, assumes that defeasibility belongs to the pragmatic dimension of language. Its consequences in relation to several questions are discussed, taking into account Alchourrón' s thesis according to which propositions and norms are the meaning of the expressions used in defined contexts. Secondly, it is maintained that what Alchourrón denominates "dispositional conception of defeasibility" in his article "On Law and Logic" represents a substantial change of his ideas about defeasibility, at least in what concerns the normative field. As far as norms are concerned this modification entails the adoption of a version of the dispositional theory of the value. Nevertheless, it is argued that this new proposal is not plausible because it cannot solve neither what can be called the "problem of the limit of dispositions" nor the "problem of the necessary indetermination".