Europe: Paradigms and Perspectives of Legal Practice in the European Context

The article examines three paradigms of European legal practice in permanent transition: the normative paradigm (from legislative rules to jurisprudential rights), the systemic paradigm (from hierarchical pyramid to reticular network), and the axiological paradigm (between bioconservatives and bioinnovators). The author argues these are not complete shifts from one stable model to another: paradigms remain perpetually suspended between old ones and new ones. This article contributes to the existing literature on European legal theory by demonstrating that the three examined paradigms—normative, systemic, and axiological—do not represent completed shifts but rather coexist in a state of permanent transition, a condition that itself constitutes the new immutable paradigm of contemporary European legal practice. Ultimately, the article argues that Europe must recover its Socratic philosophical heritage to transform the condition of permanent transition from a source of democratic fragility into an opportunity for reflective legal practice.