A Neo-Kantian Interpretation of the Relations between Law and Politics

Abstract

My purpose in this paper is to show that the relations between law and politics are of a contingent nature and not conceptual in character. The paper begins with a reference to the debate between legal positivism and natural law doctrine, since this is the starting point of recent debates on the connections that law has with politics. Then, I examine two famous neo-iusnaturalist explanations in order to show how the supposed conceptual nexus between law and moral has been pursued. In order to argue for my position on the relations between law and politics, I rely on the conception of Hans Kelsen regarding legal norm, on his ideas that political relativism characterizes democracy and absolutism characterizes autocracy, and on his treatment of the notion of justice. I also take some hints from the concept of ends in law of Rudolf Stammler as well as from the conception of the transcendental ethics of Hermann Cohen. To summarize, what the reader will find in the paper is a defense of a Neo-Kantian inspired understanding of the relations that law has with politics.