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Schmitt's Critique of Kelsenian Normativism *
Author(s) -
DELACROIX SYLVIE
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
ratio juris
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.344
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1467-9337
pISSN - 0952-1917
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9337.2005.00284.x
Subject(s) - positivism , normative , legal positivism , relevance (law) , epistemology , context (archaeology) , dimension (graph theory) , sociology , philosophy , law and economics , law , political science , legal realism , comparative law , mathematics , biology , pure mathematics , paleontology
. The aim of this paper is to underline the relevance of Schmitt's critique of Kelsenian normativism in the context of today's debate about the status of legal positivism. Schmitt's underlining of the limits which a certain kind of positivism imposes upon itself highlights a contemporary issue about what legal theory should aim at when accounting for the normative dimension of law. Schmitt's ultimate failure to take up the theoretical challenge he himself raised (with its well‐known consequences) is deemed to illustrate—negatively—the importance of providing a plausible account of the social practices which bring law into existence.