Kovalenko H. Ronald Dworkin's Views on Philosophy of Law.

The thesis is devoted to Ronald Dworkin's academic career, ideological context, and theoretical conception. For the first time in the scientific literature of post-Soviet countries this dissertation represents biography and overview of the main Dworkin's works, it describes the main trends of modern philosophy of law in the United States, in the controversy of which his opinions has been developed (natural law, legal positivism, legal realism, legal pragmatism and economic analysis of law, critical legal studies, feminist jurisprudence, queer theory). This dissertation deals with also Dworkin's views on the nature of law and his serious attitude to human rights advocacy, on the issue of human rights and civil disobedience, the right to abortion and euthanasia, the rights of women, the rights of sexual minorities, the rights of patients suffering from senile dementia, on the verge of freedom of speech and the attitude towards pornography. The work contains an examination of Dworkin's views on correlation between law and relevant sectors of social life - moral, political, economic, religious. It is shown that Dworkin offers the theory that "mounted" into more general philosophy of politics and morality. According to this theory, legal norms can not involve full rights required by moral principles that have a priority for any form of legislation. There is also discussed Dworkin's approach to the interpretation of law, his critique of legal formalism and his proposal of creative interpretation which take into account changes in the external situation and changes in mental standards for most judges and lawyers.