Abstract
This article aims to realign the separation between the participant's and the observer's perspectives of legal interpretation. This distinction has acquired considerable importance in contemporary debates about law's nature and purpose, but received only scant attention in Brazilian specialized literature. To fill this gap, this paper investigates which are the characteristics of each perspective that justify the separation and turns choosing a viewpoint into a fundamental methodological choice for both the study and the application of law. Adopting Alexy's conception, the article will demonstrate that each viewpoint has its internal logic and requires arguments of different nature, which justifies the separation. After exposing the distinctive characteristics of each viewpoint, the article will refine the participant's perspective by contrasting it to the position of a legal community member. This should help to counter a powerful argument against the separation. Once this objection is dismissed, it becomes clear that choosing the correct perspective is a necessary (though not a sufficient) condition for the truth or the validity of any legal proposition.
Keywords
Observer; participant; internal viewpoint; external viewpoint; argumentation