Hudym L. Legal identity: the philosophical-legal dimension

The work is devoted to the philosophical and legal understanding of legal identity. It is proved that legal thinking is the fundamental foundation of legal identity. Man’s determination of his place in legal reality depends on the dominant legal understanding in society, that is, on the practical type of legal thinking. The historical background of the emergence of legal identity through classical and post-classical legal thinking is outlined. As a result, the study of legal identity revealed that one should understand the law as formal equality, which is a degree of freedom and justice and the achievement of a synthesis between individual liberty and the public weal – this is the ideal object of legal identity. The study is based on post-classical methodology, which is characterized by plurality and includes such independent areas of research as follows: psychological concept (psychosocial and psychoanalytic approaches), hermeneutics, synergetics, phenomenology, philosophy of life, intuitivism, existentialism, etc. The following definition of legal identity has been proposed: it is the result of the understanding by a legal personality of the belonging to society through communication on the basis of dominant judicial values and standards. The following principles of legal identity are studied: identification, dynamism, self-regulation, individualism, tolerance, consensus and solidarity, humanism, respect, responsibility, freedom, equality, self-control. Key words: identity, legal identity, legal consciousness, legal cognition, legal thinking, legal knowledge, understanding of law, legal inculturation, legal behaviour.