Altruism as an anthropological-biological determinant of the contractual regulation of relations

Abstract

The application of the anthropological and sociological research approach, according to which the patterns of emergence, existence and development of law are determined exclusively by the social dimension of human existence, actually leaves out of consideration the biological nature of the creator of legal norms. And this nature, as confirmed by the results of numerous studies of the behaviour of various social animals, significantly affects the social existence of the latter. Therefore, for the sake of comprehensive knowledge of these regularities, an anthropological and biological approach (based on the recognition of the evolutionary nature of humans and the conditioning of the state and law by certain biological properties of the human individual) should also be applied. This will contribute to interdisciplinary research and the development of legal science based on them.The article is devoted to individual manifestations of human biological nature, namely altruism as an anthropological-biological determinant of contractual regulation of social relations. The concepts and types of this determinant are clarified, and the signs of kin and reciprocal altruism are characterized. It is substantiated that the latter contributes to the spread of social ties and the establishment of norms of physical behaviour. The dependence between the manifestation of altruistic behaviour, the emergence of contractual relations and their regulation in both animals and humans has been demonstrated. A parallel is made with the psychological theory of law of L. Petrażyсki regarding the justification of the emergence of legal relations, in particular, in the field of private contracts. It was concluded that imperative-attributive emotions in the concept of this theorist are a manifestation of mutual altruism. It is noted that altruistic behaviour is aimed at the creating and recognising of protonorms, in particular, the emergence of duties and corresponding rights of a contractual nature. Therefore, the study of individual manifestations of altruism in the environments of animals and people can be useful for deepening the knowledge of the origins of legal regulation.