Hans Kelsen's defence of democracy is, in many respects, both original and modern. He argues for normative legal positivism, law without justice, a theory of the state without a state, democracy without demos, for a society which lacks a collective will or a will of the people, while he also insists on the binding character of democratic decisions, given that value relativism is unavoidable.
In contemporary Anglo-American and German debates on jurisprudence, social science and philosophy, Hans Kelsen's work on theory and justification plays, at most, a marginal role. What makes this even more regrettable is the fact that Kelsen's defence of democracy is, in many respects, both original and modern. Kelsen argues for normative legal positivism, law without justice, a theory of the state without a state, democracy without demos, for a society which lacks a collective will or a will of the people, while he also insists on the binding character of democratic decisions, given that value relativism is unavoidable.
Table of contents:
Heribert Prantl: Vorwort
I. GrundlagenHorst Dreier: Der Preis der Moderne. Hans Kelsens Rechts- und Sozialtheorie -
Elif Özmen: Kelsen und das Problem des Pluralismus -
Thomas Gutmann: Kelsens Begriff normativer Begründung -
Christian Krijnen: Vernunft als Geltungsgrund des Rechts. Kelsen im Spiegel kantischer Transzendentalphilosophie
II. KontexteOliver Hidalgo: Kelsen und das Paradox der wehrhaften Demokratie -
Jan Kleine: Zwischen Dissens und leerer Mitte. Postmoderne Elemente in Kelsens Demokratietheorie -
Tamara Ehs: Das politische Element der Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit -
Friedemann Voigt: Religion und Theologie in der politischen Philosophie Hans Kelsens
