«Astratto v. concreto». Note sulla teoria dell'interpretazione di Riccardo Guastini

This paper, articulated as a comment on Guastini’s theory of interpretation (as exposed in his recent book Interpretare e argomentare), analyses some specific views (and the connected remarks formulated by Diciotti) concerning the distinction between interpretation «in abstracto» and «in concreto», the difference between «generic» and «individual» subsumption, and the logic structure of legal reasoning. Through the reconstruction of an Italian debate of the early XX century (with particular reference to some works by Calamandrei, Carnelutti and Betti), the paper concludes with a short exercise of comparison, in order to clarify the historical connotation of the different positions examined, and to propose a critical reflection on the persistence of the main problems investigated.