From Real to Virtual: Methodology of Constitutional Science in Digital Age

Digitalization affects constitutional science and its methodology, i.e., methods and approaches to the study of new constitutional processes, the transformation of traditional constitutional categories and concepts, and the phenomenon of simultaneous real and virtual existence. The article describes some methodological models that provide the correlation and relevance of constitutional categories and phenomena that co-exist in reality and virtual space. As the methodology of constitutional science is updated, so are its ideological component and research methods. It acquires a wide range of digitalization techniques. For instance, the method of legal fictions makes it possible to identify the legal nature of some new constitutional categories. Constitutional science adopts research methods from related sciences, e.g., cybernetics. Many constitutional studies on digital transformation rely on the axiological approach. The rapid digitalization of law requires new terms. The article describes digital constitutional categories and phenomena as a systemic relationship that takes into account the co-existence of actual and virtual realities. The author introduced the concept of constitutional and legal continuum: it is a continuous environment of constitutional and legal existence of a person, society, and the state that has no clear boundaries between elements or stages in real and virtual environment. Digital twins and digital competitors make it possible to study such methodological models. The choice of the model determines the nature of constitutional and legal regulation.