GOAL SETTING AND ITS ACHIEVEMENT AS A CRITERION OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN THE FIELD OF CIVIL LAW

Introduction: the article deals with the methodological problem of the meaning of the goal of civil law research. The author analyzes the dissertation abstracts from the point of view of goal setting, which were completed in different periods of the development of Russian civil law science, identifies the qualitative characteristics of the stages, and proves the connection of the achieved results with the researcher’s knowledge of the methodological methods of goal setting. Purpose: to show the value of goal setting in scientific research in general and in civil research in particular; to consider the relationship of goal setting with the achievement of specific scientific results on the examples of dissertations defended in the specialty 12.00.03; to justify the need to set as goals the fundamental problems associated with the identification of patterns of development of relations that are part of the subject of civil law regulation and the creation of effective mechanisms that mediate them. Methods: system-structural, system-functional, generalization, abstraction, analogy, logical, statistical, classification, legal modeling, comparative legal, forecasting, formal legal, historical. Results: civil methodology should take into account the importance of the goal in the organization of scientific work. Only a competent possession of goal setting skills can ultimately ensure the creation of scientifically-based mechanisms for effective impact of civil law norms on regulated social relations. Conclusions: 1) any science, including the science of civil law, is not only designed to study and describe existing problems, including legislative, doctrinal, and law enforcement. Research, in order to meet the criterion of scientific character, must attempt to identify the laws of development, both regulated relations and mechanisms that mediate them; 2) the significance of the goal in the development of science has been proven by outstanding philosophers. In addition, the very definition of science indicates that goal setting is one of its essential characteristics; 3) the analysis of the author’s abstracts of leading Russian tsivilists showed how the skilful setting of research goals helped to achieve them consistently, as well as to create a high-quality categorical apparatus of civil law science; 4) the analysis of modern dissertations showed that not all young researchers see the value of goal-setting and this methodological disadvantage is important for the author to eliminate.