UDTR — Radar mondial des droits de la Nature

Deception and Self-Deception in Symbolic Legislation: from Virtue Signalling to Epistemic Vices

Identification

Clé publique

radar:r-e8787c3af9e17adfc66551f2fcc01edb

Auteurs

Francesco Ferraro

Année déclarée

2026

Langue déclarée

en

Type source

article

Première détection

2026-11-14T02:46:35.637763+00:00

Dernière observation des métadonnées

2026-11-14T02:46:35.637763+00:00

Dernière vérification HTTP

Non effectuée

Institutions déclarées par la source

University of Milan

Pays d’affiliation déclarés

IT

Résumé documentaire — langue originale

Abstract “Symbolic legislation” is often used to refer to laws that are ineffective, that is, instrumentally inadequate in achieving their declared or expected purposes. It is often associated with lawmakers deceiving citizens about their actual aims, as when they legislate only to alleviate social pressure rather than to address social problems. However, more often than not, symbolic legislation involves no legislative intent to deceive, as when a law is not symbolic from the outset but becomes so later. A novel definition of “symbolic legislation” will be offered, making no reference to irrationality or deception and focusing instead on the prevalence of symbolic functions. These functions are those that laws perform when they are not interpreted according to legal-specialistic codes but according to different codes provided by extra-legal social norms. A classification of these functions is proposed, based on whether they rely entirely on pre-existing codes (as in symbolic signalling, including virtue signalling) or modify those codes by creating new symbols or changing their social meanings. In some cases, the prevalence of symbolic functions overshadows the laws’ lack of effectiveness: citizens are led by “expressive” concerns into what Newig has called “societal self-deception” regarding the instrumental adequacy of the laws they support. Although various alternative accounts of self-deception have been offered, it will be held that, when symbolic legislation is associated with societal self-deception, it fosters the propagation of identifiable epistemic vices within the community.

Identifiants

OPENALEX

https://openalex.org/W7135048878

DOI

10.1007/s11196-026-10465-2

Repères documentaires

Famille documentaire

article

Types déclarés par les sources

article

Éditeurs

Springer Science+Business Media

Les mentions d’entités ne constituent pas une preuve de reconnaissance juridique. La juridiction étudiée est distincte du pays d’affiliation des auteurs.

Sources

OpenAlex · Document 1

• Document · https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-026-10465-2

Statut documentaire

Pertinence à examiner

Bibliothèque

Cette identité n’est pas encore intégrée à la Bibliothèque juridique.