Pierluigi Chiassoni (University of Genoa - Law School) has posted Kelsen on Natural Law Theory. An Enduring Critical Affair (Revus – Journal for Constitutional Theory and Philosophy of Law (2014) 23. 135-163) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
In a series of essays published from the late 1920s up to the mid-1960s, Hans Kelsen carried out a radical critique of natural law theory. The present paper purports to provide an analytical reconstruction and critical assessment of such a critique. It contains two parts. Part one surveys the fundamentals of Kelsen’s argumentative strategy against natural law and its theorists. Part two considers, in turn, two critical reactions to Kelsen’s criticisms: by Edgar Bodenheimer, on behalf of traditional natural law theory; by Robert P. George, on behalf of “the new natural law theory”. As the analysis suggests, Kelsen’s critique stands up to the criticisms.
