Philosophy of Law

Abstract

A central task of legal philosophy is to provide a general explanation of the normativity of positive law. Legal positivist theories pursue this aim primarily by philosophical analyses (linguistic, conceptual, or ontological) that explain law by descriptive reference to social practices, mainly of institutional actors. For example, legal validity is explained by a rule of recognition, which is a social norm among legal officials. Naturalistic approaches in legal positivism seek a closer contact to the social sciences. Natural law theories deny that any explanation of law could succeed without reference to (true) political morality.