Law: Communication or Self-Communication?

Introduction. The article is devoted to the consideration of law from the point of view of two types of communication — communication of the type «From Me — to an Other» and communication of the type «From Me — to Me», also called «self-communication». Methodology and materials. The research is based on the works of russian and foreign scientists who consider law as a manifestation of communication, as well as the work of communication theorist Yu. M. Lotman. The research method is based on the identification of «ideal types» of communication, which make it possible to consider law as their manifestation, to analyze particular features of law as typical characteristics of a particular «ideal type» of communication. Results and discussion. In order to consider law in the light of the ideal-type characteristics of various types of communication, three issues were elaborated: 1) understanding of law as a «From Me — to an Other» type of communication, which forms the basis of a significant number of modern studies; 2) the essence of self-communication as a type of communication that leads to the appearance of new information without direct interaction of an individual with another one and in this sense opposes to communication of «From Me — to an Other» type; 3) the application of the idea of self-communication to explanation of the characteristic features of law as a mechanism of normative regulation of social order. Conclusions. As the study showed, despite the widespread tendency to consider law from the point of view of the «From Me — to an Other» type of communication, it is self-communication of «From Me — to Me» type, seemingly far from legal regulation, that turns out to be quite close to the essence of law in terms of its ideal-type manifestations. As far as law is the most important mechanism for stabilizing social processes, one of the most important factors for stabilization and development of law itself will be its interpretation in terms of self-communication.