Kelsen's legal positivism and the challenge of Nazi law

Herlinde Pauer-Studer

pp. 223-240

in: Maria C. Galavotti, Elisabeth Nemeth, Friedrich Stadler (eds), European philosophy of science, Berlin, Springer, 2014

Abstract

In this paper I am going to examine Kelsen's legal positivism in the light of Nazilegal theory. My claim will be that Kelsen's thesis that law and morality constitute two distinct normative spheres is highly plausible, but that some of his metaethical assumptions are seriously flawed.

Cited authors

Kelsen Hans