Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T13:58:41.916Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

33 - Positivism and Totalitarianism

from Part VI - Critique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 January 2021

Torben Spaak
Affiliation:
Stockholms Universitet
Patricia Mindus
Affiliation:
Uppsala Universitet, Sweden
Get access

Summary

Dyzenhaus argues that Hart’s defence of legal positivism fails because Hart cannot without contradiction espouse both the claim that there is no necessary connection between law and morality and the claim that law has authority, that is, Herrschaft, not mere Macht. Moreover, in combination, the two claims result in what Spanish-speaking legal scholars have referred to as ideological positivism. Dyzenhaus argues, more specifically, that although Hart argued that legal positivism in the shape of the separation thesis is conducive to clear thinking and facilitates critical assessment of the law, his failure to follow through on his insights about the authority of law leads to a theory of law that is not free from the undesirable political (theoretical) consequences associated with totalitarianism, alleged by several critics of positivism.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexy, R. 2002. The Argument from Injustice: A Reply to Legal Positivism. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Austin, J. 1885. Lectures on Jurisprudence or the Philosophy of Positive Law. The LawBook Exchange LTD.Google Scholar
Buckland, W. W. 1932. A Text-Book of Roman Law: From Augustus to Justinian. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dworkin, R. 1981. Taking Rights Seriously. Duckworth.Google Scholar
Dworkin, R. 1986. Law’s Empire. Fontana.Google Scholar
Dyzenhaus, D. 2008. ‘The Case of the Grudge Informer Revisited’. New York University Law Review 83: 1000–34.Google Scholar
Dyzenhaus, D. 2010. Hard Cases in Wicked Legal Systems: Pathologies of Legality. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fuller, L. L. 1940. The Law in Quest of Itself. Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Fuller, L. L. 1956. ‘Human Purpose and Natural Law’. Journal of Philosophy 53: 697705.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuller, L. L. 1958. ‘Positivism and Fidelity to Law: A Reply to Professor Hart’. Harvard Law Review 71: 630–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardner, J. 2012. Law as a Leap of Faith. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, H. L. A. 1982. Essays on Bentham: Jurisprudence and Political Theory. Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Hart, H. L. A. 1983. ‘Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals’. In Hart, H. L. A.. Essays in Jurisprudence and Philosophy. Clarendon Press: 4987.Google Scholar
Hart, H. L. A. 1994. The Concept of Law. Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Hobbes, T. 1997. Leviathan. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kelsen, H. 1968. Die philosophischen Grundlagen der Naturrechtslehre und des Rechtspositivismus. In Klecatsky, H., Marcic, R. and Schambeck, H. (eds.). Die Wiener rechtstheoretische Schule: Hans Kelsen, Adolf Merkl, Alfred Verdross. Europa Verlag.Google Scholar
Mertens, T. 2002. ‘Radbruch and Hart on Grudge Informer: A Reconsideration’. Ratio Juris 15: 186205.Google Scholar
Nino, C. 1996. Radical Evil on Trial. Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Pappe, H. O. 1960. ‘On the Validity of Judicial Decisions in the Nazi Era’. Modern Law Review 23: 260–74.Google Scholar
Radbruch, G. 1950. Legal Philosophy. In Patterson, E. W. (ed.). The Legal Philosophies of Lask, Radbruch, and Dabin. Harvard University Press: 43224.Google Scholar
Radbruch, R. 1973. ‘Gesetzliches Unrecht und Übergesetzliches Recht’. In Radbruch, G., Rechtsphilosophie. K.F. Koehler Verlag: 339–50.Google Scholar
Radbruch, G. 2006. ‘Statutory Lawlessness and Supra-Statutory Law’. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 26: 111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raz, J. 1983. The Authority of Law: Essays on Law and Morality. Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Raz, J. 1994. ‘Authority, Law, and Morality’. In Raz, J., Ethics in the Public Domain: Essays in the Morality of Law and Politics. Oxford University Press: 194221.Google Scholar
Toh, K. 2005. ‘Hart’s Expressivism and His Benthamite Project’. Legal Theory 11(2): 75123.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×