Teleological arguments and theory-based dialectics

This paper proposes to model legal reasoning as dialectical theory-construction directed by teleology. Precedents are viewed as evidence to be explained through theories. So, given a background of factors and values, the parties in a case can build their theories by using a set of operators, which are called theory constructors. The objective of each party is to provide theories that both explain the evidence (the precedents) and support the decision wished by that party. This leads to theory-based argumentation,i.e., a dialectical exchange of competing theories, which support opposed outcomes by explaining the same evidence and appealing to the same values. The winner is the party that can reply with a more coherent theory to all theories of its adversary.