The legal discourse and its double meaning: Symbols, social place and dualistic reason

Abstract

This article is an essay on the process of formation of legal discourse, following the space-time grids in the production of its assumptions of legitimacy. The theoretical basis for the research is the semiotic approach of Umberto Eco, based on the sleeping car metaphor. As references to deal with the background that serves as a foundation for legal discourse in Brazil, the article uses Sergio Buarque de Holanda's book Raízes do Brasil and Jesse Souza's book Modernização seletiva. It assumes that moderthe spatial distinctions (due to different processes of occupation and colonization) and the diverse experiences of the discourses on time (pre-modern, modern and post-modern) represent the different speeds of social relations. Thus, there would be one and the same discourse but with opposite results when imprinted on different imagined social communities.