ABSTRACT
And, as we have suggested, what is real is, to some extent at least, objectified and rendered uncontroversial by language: shared words with shared meanings. Very often, those who try to step outside those shared meanings lack the language to do so. Philosophers, sociologists, mathematicians, political theorists and of course poets have long had to develop some sort of ‘meta-language’ (that is, a language outside of day-to-day language) in an attempt to talk about what is taken for granted and our common sense. A little later, in an attempt to get an external perspective on our reality, we will be referring to anthropological articles and books in order to try to observe indirectly what is almost impossible to see directly. Before doing so, however, we want to explore a little further the uses of the concept of legitimation. As we said, while law is an important legitimating device, even legitimating devices require legitimation. There must be some answer to the person who says ‘with what justification?’ when told that it is the law which requires him or her to act in a particular way.
