Abstract

The article deals with the relationship among law and cognitive sciences placing the analysis in a wider discussion on the horizons of modern legal science. The interest in cognitive sciences is presented as a contribution to a new cultural perspective in which the jurist is no more simply an exegete, but a scientist investigating also the empirical dimensions of legal universe. In such a perspective, the work identifies two links among cognitive sciences and legal studies: one is the analysis of thought processes influencing the emergence, the enforcement and the circulation of legal norms in social systems; the other is the use of agent-based simulation models as a supporting tool for understanding legal phenomena.