Narrative Intelligence: Empathy, Mimesis and the Equitable

Abstract

This chapter discusses what it takes to become a ‘literary jurist’ by returning to the topic of narrative intelligence introduced in Chapter 1. It analyses Ricoeur’s view on mimesis and shows the relevance for legal practice. Mimesis as prefiguration refers to the temporality of the world of human action. In law, the stage of the “brute facts”. Configuration or the world of narrative emplotment of events, this chapter argues, is the translation of the brute facts into the manageable form of legal documents culminating in the trial. Refiguration is the stage when the reader appropriates the text into his or her own world. Success in judicial practice is also closely connected to the ability to empathise and to the equitable in the individual case. The building blocks that this chapter suggests for legal practice at the same time show the importance of the humanities for law.