Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book utilizes the well-known vehicle-in-the-park problem to illustrate the limits of classical artificial intelligence (AI) and to develop concepts of indeterminacy, open texture, and essential vagueness. It explores whether the concept of Kuhnian paradigm shifts has meaning in AI and law or, for that matter, in science. New directions in AI research solve some of the problems of the classical approaches while raising new issues of their own. These new directions can illuminate new directions for jurisprudence as well. Classical AI approaches embody brittle models of law and of human reasoning, and the limitations of these approaches are in essence the limitations of their models. The book examines new metaphors of law are developed, the most important being that of law as connectionist AI system embodied in society.