Legal Positivism, Politics, and Critical Ethics

This book challenges the view that legal positivism should be reduced to a conceptual analysis of legal validity.
Instead, Elena Namli reclaims legal positivism as a theory of the relationship between law, morality, and politics. Presenting novel interpretations of the classical works of Herbert L. A. Hart, Joseph Raz, and Jürgen Habermas, Namli frames legal positivism as a theory that makes possible a moral and political critique of valid law. Moreover, this book defends the dialectical relationship between law, politics, and morality by combining a positivist approach to legal validity with a constructivist ethical theory which strengthens the critical potential of legal positivism. Legally valid norms may not always be morally justified, but understanding the moral quality of legal regulations is essential for comprehending modern law.

Elena Namli is professor of ethics at Uppsala University.