Comparative method of research. Comparative legal method

"Everything is known in comparison," as the well-known wisdom says. Otherwise, how would a person know about the possibilities of his development, about how other people and people live, what conditions can he create to improve his life? Comparison is present in all manifestations of human existence. And not only in everyday life.

Science has long used comparisons as one of the main ways to obtain information about the world. It is called a comparative method of assessing the relationships, similarities and differences between the objects under investigation. This method is a narrower concept than comparison in everyday understanding.

Marx and Engels differentiated these terms, since the method assumes a special organization, preparation, adherence to principles. They also took the main role of the comparative method in the formation of a dialectical view of nature.

Practically all scientific disciplines are bound to this method of research. About what is a comparative method, where and how it is used, - next.

Characteristics of the comparative method

A comparative method in scientific cognition is used to compare more than two objects under investigation in order to identify common and various in them, to construct classifications and typologies. Such objects can include various ideas, research results, phenomena, processes, qualitative characteristics of objects and so on.

This method refers to general scientific empirical, allows to obtain theoretical knowledge and is universally used. It is the basis for many applied research because it allows them to create groups based on the distinctive features of objects. These classifications are used in subsequent studies as a basis.

Examples of the comparative method can be illustrated on the basis of its forms:

• Comparative-comparative method reveals differences in the nature of the studied objects (for example, in Christian and Muslim religious culture);
• Historical and typological comparison, which makes it possible to distinguish common features in unconnected phenomena under one developmental conditions (for example, kinship of different languages);
• The historical-genetic comparison shows the similarity between objects united by common origin and conditions of development, and their mutual influences (for example, the development of the psyche of animals and humans).

Where are the comparative methods of research used?

The comparative method is one of the most universal in the theory and practice of cognition, therefore many sciences use it:

• Comparative anatomy (branch of biology);
• Theology and religious studies;
• History of linguistics;
• History of literature;
• mythology;
• Political science and law, in particular, criminal law;
• Genetic (comparative) psychology;
• philosophy.

Comparative method in psychology

A comparative method of research was widely used in various branches of psychological science. It allows you to compare the properties of the personality, the development of the psyche, the characteristics of groups of people and draw conclusions about the mechanisms of genesis and the reasons for the appearance of differences in the objects under study.

Thus, differential psychology uses a comparative method to identify similarities and differences in the psychological properties of individual groups of people, zoopsychology - to trace the evolution of the psyche in representatives of different stages of development of the animal world, age psychology - changes in the mental functions of a person depending on his age.

"Method of transverse sections" as a comparative method in psychology makes it possible to determine the development of the same mental function or property in different groups of people. For example, compare the level of development of intelligence in schoolchildren of different ages, different social groups or pupils of different forms and programs of instruction. There is also a "method of longitudinal sections", or longitudinal. It differs from the comparative one in that one and the same object is studied for a long time of its existence. This is done to track changes that occur with this object over time.

Possibilities of the comparative method in psychology

All typologies of personalities, classification by a certain feature of people in psychology are created through the use of a comparative method. Even the setting of the experiment involves this method at the stage of assessing the effectiveness of some variables. In this case, the initial data and the result obtained after the experimental influence are compared.

Along with other organizational methods (longitudinal, complex), the comparative method in psychological science is indispensable. Without it, all psychological groups would be disparate units, there would be no classifications of professions, types of personality, characteristics of age stages, etc. Therefore, this method can rightly be considered a way of ordering knowledge and predicting change.

Disadvantages of the comparative method in psychology

Among the shortcomings, which, like any other method, has a comparative one, we can name:

• Dependence of research results on static, object stability;
• The risk of information becoming obsolete at the time of processing the data;
• The need to use additional research methods to obtain more complete information.

All the advantages and disadvantages of the chosen method determine the possibilities of its use. Of course, for an extensive study of one method of obtaining and systemizing information is not enough.

Comparative legal method

The comparative legal method in the methodology of the state and law is one of the main ways of knowing. It involves a comparison of processes, phenomena and concepts of a legal nature with a view to studying their similarity, identifying the causes of differences. This comparison allows us to understand how their development and modification took place, in what sequence this was accomplished, and to create classifications for such phenomena.

Comparative method allowed to stand out a separate scientific branch - comparative law, which deals with the study and comparison of various legal systems of world states.

When studying foreign experience of jurisprudence, the state can improve its own legal system, abandon obsolete imperfect working methods and use positive experience in developing its legislation.

By his appearance in jurisprudence, this method is due to the achievements of other technical and social sciences: mathematics, cybernetics, psychology.

The practical importance of the comparative legal method

The practical benefit of the comparative method in legal science is that it allows you to find the best ways to solve social problems. It allows us to understand why one thing about the same action in the legal culture of one state is legitimate, and in another - criminal.

Comparative approach methods include different methods of comparison:

• Functional, allowing to compare the functions performed by one or another institution of the state;
• Normative, using terms and categories of specific legal systems for the purpose of analyzing legal norms and legislative decisions;
• Problematic, which compares the solution of certain legal differences within the legislative system and analyzes the possibility of applying these decisions within the framework of its legislation;
• Textual, analyzing what text design most effectively affects the implementation of legal norms on a national scale;
• Binary, which compares not a set, but only two existing political or social systems.

Comparative law and its aspects

Comparative jurisprudence is considered in specialized literature in three main aspects:

1. As a comparative method of research.
2. As a branch of independent science.
3. As a combination of method and a separate scientific discipline.

The third approach is considered more modern because it recognizes that comparative jurisprudence can be a separate method of the entire legal science that allows studying the listed issues, and can also be an independent science, since it has its subject of research, scope and practical value.

Basic principles of the comparative-legal method

Like any scientific method of cognition, the methods of the comparative approach are realized by observing the basic principles:

1. Comparability of legal norms, which regulates the functional side of legal decisions, that is, how they solve potential social problems.
2. Accounting for the conditions of historical development of the legal norm, its social conditioning.
3. Critical consideration of the data obtained.

The practical importance of comparative research methods

The importance of the comparative method in the history of science is difficult to underestimate. The historical development of states and societies, the evolutionary theory of the emergence and improvement of the physical functions of human and animal organs and systems, the history of linguistics, psychological typologies-these and many other achievements would not be possible where the comparative method was not used.

The characteristic of this method of obtaining information includes not only theoretical, but also its practical importance. For example, the application of the method in jurisprudence makes it possible to identify the optimal ways of solving legal issues, in psychology - to draw conclusions about the laws of the development of the psyche and to create the most effective training and self-development programs for all age groups and other categories of people. It becomes clear that the comparative analysis is one of the most used practically in all technical, natural and social sciences.