ПРАВОВОЙ МЕНТАЛИТЕТ: СОЦИАЛЬНО-ФИЛОСОФСКИЙ АНАЛИЗ

Abstract

This article addresses the pressing issues surrounding legal mentality and explores its relationship with other spiritual phenomena such as legal consciousness, legal thinking, and legal nihilism. According to the authors, the essence of legal mentality should be examined through a system-structural analysis, encompassing both conscious and unconscious, rational and irrational levels. Such an approach allows for a deeper investigation of legal stereotypes, legal attitudes, value-based legal norms, and archetypes within the legal mentality of Kazakhstanis.

The article further analyzes the distinctive features of the development of legal consciousness among the Kazakh people. The authors argue that the historical significance of the biys' court lies in its role in embedding the principles of justice above statutory law within the Kazakh legal mentality, ensuring their robust protection and realization in legal practice.

A nihilistic attitude toward the norms and values of law remains deeply ingrained in the mentality of Kazakhstanis. The high level of corruption and the moral degradation of officials and politicians have contributed to the formation of a negative perception of governmental and judicial institutions. Reversing this trend and restoring trust in justice and the rule of law presents a considerable challenge.

In the course of the study, the author concludes that the roots of legal nihilism lie in the conflation of law and statute, the opposition between legal and moral norms, and between law and justice—issues that remain unresolved both theoretically and in practice.