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siempre corren el riesgo de perder contacto con la realidad, y aquellos que se manifiestan en
la actuación cotidiana de los tribunales, que precisamente no se centran en fenómenos
normativos exclusivamente. De ahí que la reforma al sistema procesal no comprenda,
exclusivamente, el cambio de la norma procesal. Como diría Bertalanffy, "parecemos seguir
alguna trágica necesidad histórica" (6).
De esta forma, la coherencia interna del sistema procesal y su aceptación racional como
instrumento válido de resolución de conflictos dependen, en buena medida, del discurso
práctico de jueces y abogados. Las teorías de la argumentación intentan, principalmente,
superar el discurso jurídico en términos lógico-normativos, pretendiendo ir más allá de
niveles de justificación que se apoyan en la autoridad y la tradición como únicas formas de
legitimación del derecho en los Estados democráticos.
IV. El entorno y el contorno del derecho y el papel de la argumentación jurídica
Los enfoques post-positivistas de Dworkin, Nino, Alexy o el último MacCormick han
puesto de manifiesto, desde hace tiempo, la insuficiencia teórica de una visión del derecho en
la que las reglas aparecen como límite último de lo jurídico frente a lo no-jurídico y como un
límite esencialmente negativo.
Estos enfoques cuestionan que las reglas sirvan para aislar el derecho, funcionando como
barrera de contención de los valores, la ideología de la separación (Atienza), afirmando que
más bien los límites del derecho deben ampliarse para incluir esos valores y la dimensión
justificativa o moral que en términos de racionalidad práctica introducen (7).
La idea de límite adquiere así un sentido también positivo, que no se agota en cerrar el
dominio del derecho, excluyendo y separando, sino que también comunica o permite el paso
entre lo que hay a ambos lados del límite, convirtiéndolo así en permeable y poroso, en un
filtro más bien: en todo caso, una zona o territorio, más que una línea divisoria abrupta.
Cabría decir entonces que la idea (estática y negativa) de los límites del derecho,
proveniente del positivismo, queda redefinida, en el post-positivismo, en términos de la
distinción (dinámica y positiva) entre el contorno del derecho (definido por el conjunto de las
instituciones jurídicas en su decurso práctico, dentro del cual emergen las normas) y el
entorno del derecho (contextos sociales, políticos y morales en cuyo espacio actúan las
instituciones anteriores y de donde obtienen los fines y estados de cosas valiosos que orientan
tales normas).
Para el juez del Estado constitucional, las reglas jurídicas ya no pueden constituir
solamente límites negativos (formales o autoritativos), mecanismos lógico-lingüísticos
orientados (a modo de reglas meramente técnicas o instrumentales) a suprimir la
deliberación.
La práctica judicial, como señalara Dworkin, se convierte en una interpretación
constructiva a la luz de evaluaciones no reducibles a la simple corrección formal o
consistencia lógica de la justificación interna, sino que integra ésta en una justificación
externa o material capaz de asegurar en todo caso la correcta aplicación de las reglas y sus
mejores interpretaciones posibles a la luz de razones sustantivas (8).
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argumentación legislativa, y sus productos como parte del continuum de la práctica jurídica
en su conjunto (como integrante del contorno institucional del derecho). La legislación no
queda expulsada al espacio pre-jurídico de lo político, sino que es un tipo de argumentación
jurídica compleja consistente en traducir fines y propósitos colectivos en forma de reglas,
discerniendo racionalmente a través de qué categorías de acciones se realizan mejor tales o
cuales valores (11).
Los jueces, en el tránsito de la pluralidad de materiales normativos a la unidad de
decisión, deberán recurrir a valoraciones aptas para reducir indeterminaciones y hacer hablar
al derecho "con una sola voz". Implementar un sistema de reglas legisladas de manera
generalizada y estable en la práctica exige resignificar permanentemente los balances
valorativos originariamente presupuestos por esas reglas, y en ello está el núcleo central del
tipo de racionalidad práctica de la función judicial (12).
Con todo ello, no es difícil apreciar que en muchas normas jurídicas, especialmente las
que reconocen derechos constitucionales, es donde se potencia la textura abierta del lenguaje,
interpretadas por los jueces con argumentos y razonamientos morales, que son también
jurídicos, en la medida en que la práctica jurídica les dé cabida con sus propias normas de
reconocimiento o estándares válidos por éstas (13).
Un planteamiento similar es realizado por Waluchow, que agrupa las posibles opciones de
una práctica jurídica en relación con la interpretación en dos grandes líneas: la textual y la
liberal o de interés. En este sentido, una posición textual obligaría a los intérpretes a
identificar el significado de las normas interpretadas con el significado lingüístico de los
términos. En cambio, una regla interpretativa liberal o de intereses se incorporaría junto al
significado lingüístico de los términos, los intereses u objetivos que se supone que se propuso
realizar la norma (14).
Una práctica que incorpora reglas interpretativas textuales es una regla excluyente, en la
medida en que todo lo que excede del estrecho límite de la significación lingüística de los
términos jurídicos es a-jurídico. En cambio, una práctica que autoriza a los intérpretes a
integrar la significación lingüística con el sentido o fin de la norma resulta incluyente, pues la
determinación de cuáles son estos fines supone el recurso al razonamiento moral. Siempre
habrá una opción moral, señala en este sentido Waluchow (15).
V. Las críticas a la visión argumentativa del derecho
No quisiera dejar fuera de este análisis, al menos en términos generales, las críticas más
contundentes dirigidas a observar el derecho como argumentación, especialmente en el marco
de lo que venimos desarrollando y de lo que se define como constitucionalismo principialista
o argumentativo, entre ellos por Haba, Laporta, García Amado y Ferrajoli. En tal sentido, he
tomado para su análisis un escrito de este último, que describe de un modo gráfico las
distintas posiciones al respecto, más allá de su postura y fundamentalmente para contrastar
las distintas visiones que existen sobre el tema.
Una primera idea consiste en definir al constitucionalismo principialista en la pretensión
de someter las leyes a normas superiores estipuladas como inderogables, articulada desde el
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que como actos de razón (susceptibles, estos últimos, pero no los primeros, de un tratamiento
argumentativo).
De este modo, un estudiante de entonces estaba seguramente al tanto de la existencia de
teorías, conceptos y posiciones doctrinarias (la teoría del contrato, la acción, la jurisdicción,
etc.). Y probablemente fuera también muy capaz de repetir los cuatro métodos de
interpretación de Savigny; recuerda Atienza que esto resultaba muy útil porque era
prácticamente lo único que era necesario conocer sobre interpretación jurídica y que servía
además para cualquiera de las materias jurídicas que estudiábamos, ya que un estudiante de
entonces supiese mucho más que eso, y mucho menos que pensara que los derechos humanos
y la argumentación, iban a ser de importancia para su ejercicio profesional.
Actualmente, el interés por los aspectos argumentativos del derecho podría hallarse en el
hecho de haber tomado conciencia de que en una cultura formalista, en donde el enfoque
argumentativo está definitivamente ausente o relegado, como la nuestra, no se da una
respuesta satisfactoria, ni siquiera en sus términos mínimos.
Hay un sentimiento muy generalizado de gran insatisfacción con respecto a la enseñanza
del derecho: es exclusivamente memorística y deja poco o nada de espacio para las tareas de
tipo argumentativo. Y una demanda creciente de democratización (de necesidad de justificar
con razones, no apelando simplemente a la autoridad, a las decisiones de los órganos
públicos), como consecuencia de la implantación del Estado constitucional. Fenómeno este
último, valga la aclaración, que es todavía muy reciente.
VII. Argumentación y proceso como relación relevante en la práctica judicial
El derecho procesal, desde una visión instrumental, no regula la argumentación
normativo-jurídica como tal, sino que no hace más que asegurar en el aspecto temporal y
objetivo el marco institucional para que las partes y el juez puedan interactuar. Las normas
relativas al orden del proceso institucionalizan la práctica de la decisión judicial de manera
que la sentencia y sus fundamentos puedan entenderse como resultado de un juego
argumentativo.
A su vez, el profesional del derecho viene disciplinado por un conjunto de reglas que
especifican la relevancia que hay que asignar al material a interpretar (por ejemplo, a las
palabras, a la intención de las frases, a cuestiones fácticas complejas, etc.), así como por
estándares que definen conceptos básicos y establecen las circunstancias procedimentales en
las que la interpretación ha de producirse.
Resulta interesante el hecho de que Owen Fiss relacione estos principios procedimentales
y máximas de interpretación con aquellos que son constitutivos del papel y de la práctica de
una administración imparcial de justicia y cuyo fin es asegurar su independencia, el control
de la discrecionalidad subjetiva, el respeto por la integridad de las partes en litigio, el que se
fundamente por escrito y se dé por escrito la sentencia final (24).
Desde esta perspectiva, el proceso judicial comporta un sistema dialéctico donde se
procura llegar a la verdad en el marco de una razonable distribución de oportunidades dadas a
las partes a lo largo de todo su desarrollo. El debate procesal es y debe ser, necesariamente,
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un debate ordenado con igualdad de oportunidades de hacer valer los derechos por ambos
contendientes. Planteado en estos términos, las normas sustanciales eventualmente aplicables
a un caso concreto y aquellas que regulan el debate procesal se vinculan a través de la
argumentación (25).
Esta vinculación, que tiene efectos prácticos decisivos, se manifiesta como una actividad
intermedia, en la línea de tensión entre el caso real y las normas que deben regularlo.
Calamandrei desarrolla esta cuestión desde el principio de dialecticidad, donde cada sujeto
debe actuar y hablar en el momento preciso, ni antes ni después, del mismo modo en que en
la recitación de un drama cada actor tiene que saber entrar a tiempo para su intervención, o en
una partida de ajedrez (26).
Habrá que tener muy en cuenta de qué forma incide la práctica de la argumentación en la
utilización de normas e instrumentos procesales, precisamente porque tales extremos se
funden en la dinámica de la actividad judicial. En esta tarea no se puede olvidar que existen
aspectos vedados al investigador, debido a los variados elementos que cada situación
particular contiene o que, al menos, podría solamente pronunciar conclusiones relativas.
Sin perjuicio de ello, ya no se puede negar que el juez no "subsume" simplemente
(mecánicamente) el caso bajo la norma ni permanece en ese proceso completamente
escéptico, imparcial, sino que tiene en la llamada aplicación del derecho un papel
transformador activo.
De ahí que sólo cuando el comprendedor (operador jurídico) se aproxima al texto (objeto)
con una pre-compresión (Esser) o pre-juicio (Gadamer) estará en condiciones de abordarlo, y
estará en condiciones de fundamentar argumentativamente lo que ya había sido anticipado
como resultado "provisional" (círculo hermenéutico o "espiral"). Claro está, obviamente, que
la hermenéutica no es teoría de la argumentación, pero ella exige de ésta.
En este contexto, los conceptos que se deben manejar no son puramente doctrinarios, y la
técnica argumentativa en actuaciones judiciales —como, por ejemplo, el acto de una
demanda, la fundamentación de la sentencia, la suficiencia técnica de un recurso judicial—
debe ser apreciada objetivamente, teniendo en cuenta las circunstancias concretas,
particulares, puntales que el caso exhibe.
VIII. Conclusiones
Las indicaciones que anteceden no agotan, como ya lo he dicho en otra ocasión, las
perspectivas de un tema que tiene tan estrechas conexiones con problemas capitales de la
filosofía jurídica a los que aquí no podemos siquiera aludir. Fácilmente se comprende que
dicha exposición rebasa, con mucho, los límites de este breve escrito.
Sin perjuicio de ello, el propósito ha sido por mi parte exponer esquemáticamente las
ideas centrales o temas que están implicados en las teorías de la argumentación y trazar
conexiones directas entre el lenguaje jurídico, el acto de argumentar y la actividad judicial,
para señalar la importancia que tiene para la lógica de la administración de justicia contar con
un discurso estable y racional del ordenamiento jurídico en su conjunto.
1. Las teorías sobre la argumentación jurídica persiguen un interés práctico, más que
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jurista debe emplear otras técnicas para construir criterios coherentes de resolución de
conflictos. La importancia práctica de la argumentación en el funcionamiento del derecho
implica el abandono de la estricta sumisión a la ley y la aceptación del papel de la razón en la
controversia jurídica.
En efecto, Ferrajoli describe claramente cómo la sujeción del juez a la ley ya no es, como
en el viejo paradigma positivista, sujeción a la letra de la ley, cualquiera que fuere su
significado, sino sujeción a la ley en cuanto válida, es decir, coherente con la Constitución.
No es un dogma asociado a la mera existencia formal de la ley, sino una cualidad contingente
de aquélla ligada a la coherencia de sus significados con la Constitución, coherencia más o
menos opinable y siempre remitida a la valoración del juez (33).
Lo general, donde no habitan los derechos, sino que se garantizan los derechos, debe dar
respuestas a los casos donde se aplique teniendo en cuenta el contexto de aplicación o las
particularidades del caso concreto. La puesta en escena del Código deja atrás los métodos o
cánones de interpretación como único camino hermenéutico y establece como parámetros de
interpretación los principios constitucionales y convencionales. El derecho no es sólo
interpretación, es comprensión unida a la vida práctica (34).
(*) Doctor en Derecho por la Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
(1) ATIENZA, Manuel, "Curso de argumentación jurídica", Ed. Trotta, Madrid, 2013, y
"Filosofía del derecho y transformación social", Ed. Trotta, Madrid, 2017.
(2) Hoy en día, señala Ferrajoli, existe una ruptura del viejo nexo entre derecho y Estado,
que ha resquebrajado la unidad e incrementado la incoherencia y la falta de plenitud de los
sistemas y subsistemas jurídicos, por la expansión de los asuntos y materias en los que el
derecho interviene o es llamado a intervenir, con razón o sin ella; por el desarrollo de nuevas
desigualdades personales de tipo no sólo económico o social, sino también político, ligadas a
las diferentes nacionalidades y ciudadanías; por la crisis simultánea de la razón política y
jurídica y de la capacidad regulativa del derecho, frente al crecimiento de poderes salvajes
extra-estatales que escapan a su control y reivindican su carácter no sujeto a reglas. Sin
embargo, no ha desaparecido, sino que ha aumentado la necesidad de un espacio autónomo
para la teoría, como lugar de replanteamiento y redefinición de las categorías jurídicas, a la
altura de las nuevas formas del poder y de las nuevas funciones del derecho. FERRAJOLI,
Luigi, "Principia iuris. Teoría del derecho y de la democracia", Ed. Trotta, Madrid, 2011, t. 1:
"Teoría del derecho", p. 4.
(3) AARNIO, Aulis, "Lo racional como razonable. Un tratado sobre justificación
jurídica", Ed. Palestra, Lima, 2016, p. 37.
(4) ATIENZA, Manuel, "Filosofía del derecho y transformación social", ob. cit., p. 117.
(5) ENDICOTT, Timothy, "La vaguedad en el derecho", trad. de J. A. Alcalá y J. Vega,
Ed. Dykinson, Madrid, 2006, p. 280.
(6) BERTALANFFY, Ludwig, "Teoría de los sistemas", Ed. Fondo de Cultura
Económica, Madrid, 2006, p. 7.
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(7) ATIENZA, Manuel, "Filosofía del derecho y transformación social", ob. cit., p 89.
(8) DWORKIN, Ronald, "El imperio de la ley", Ed. Gedisa, Barcelona, 2012, p. 174.
(9) CHASE, Oscar, "Derecho, cultura y ritual. Sistemas de resolución de controversias en
un contexto intercultural", Ed. Marcial Pons, Barcelona, 2011, p. 114.
(10) Es dable destacar que no hay una idea pacífica en torno a la equiparación de los
términos interpretación y argumentación, siendo criticada principalmente la visión de
englobar todo en la idea de argumentación. Véase el interesante análisis de BARBERIS,
Mauro, "¿Imperialismo de la argumentación? Comentarios al Curso de argumentación
jurídica de Manuel Atienza", Doxa, 37 (2014).
(11) VEGA, Jesús, "Límites a la jurisdicción, concepciones del derecho y el activismo
judicial", Doxa, 41 (2018).
(12) VEGA, Jesús, "Límites a la jurisdicción...", ob. cit.
(13) ZAMBRANO, M. del Pilar, "La inevitable creatividad en la interpretación jurídica,
una aproximación iusfilosófica a la tesis de la discrecionalidad", Universidad Autónoma de
México, Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, México, 2009, p. 18.
(14) WALUCHOW, Will J., "Inclusive legal positivism", Ed. Clarendon Press, Oxford,
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(15) WALUCHOW, Will J., "Inclusive legal positivism", ob. cit., p. 207.
(16) MORESO, José J., "Ferrajoli o el constitucionalismo optimista", Doxa, 31 (2008).
(17) FERRAJOLI, Luigi, "Constitucionalismo principialista y constitucionalismo
garantista", Doxa, 23 (2011).
(18) FERRAJOLI, Luigi, "Constitucionalismo principialista...", ob. cit.
(19) FERRAJOLI, Luigi, "Constitucionalismo principialista...", ob. cit.
(20) STRECK, Lenio, "Verdad y consenso. Constitución, hermenéutica y teorías
discursivas", Ed. Arla, Perú, 2009, p. 127.
(21) COSSÍO DÍAZ, José R., "Argumentación y derechos en la administración de
justicia", Doxa, 36 (2013).
(22) FERRAJOLI, Luigi, "Constitucionalismo principialista...", ob. cit.
(23) ATIENZA, Manuel, "Filosofía del derecho y transformación social", ob. cit., p. 98.
(24) FISS, Owen, "Objectivity and interpretation", Standford Law Review, 34 (1982),
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(25) FALCÓN, Enrique, "El ejercicio de la abogacía", Rubinzal-Culzoni Edit., Buenos
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(27) ZAGREBELSKY, Gustavo, "El derecho dúctil, la ley, derechos, justicia", Ed. Trotta,
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