Abstract

This essay is concerned with the applicability in modern conceptual jurisprudence of a particular methodology for defining concepts, namely, per genus proximum et differentiam specificam. We explicate the origin of this method and how it was applied by Aristotle, Porphyry, and Boethius, arguing that H. L. A. Hart’s views about the “open texture” of language, which is context-sensitive, call into question the applicability of this methodology in modern conceptual jurisprudence.