A Look from the Point of View of Analytical Realism: Old Metaphysics, Ruling Platitudes and Suspicious Legal Positivism

Abstract

The paper purports to provide a critical analysis of Scott Shapiro’s philosophy and meta-philosophy of law as set forth in his book Legalidad, from the standpoint of a realistic and analytical legal positivism. It articulates into four parts. The first part contains a critique of Shapiro’s “metaphysical” ambition of discovering “philosophical truths” concerning the “fundamental nature of law”. The second part sets out a critique of the role Shapiro ascribes to truisms in the working out of his legal theory. The third, two-pronged, part concerns Shapiro’s conception of a positivist theory of law. The fourth, and final, part provides a critical analysis of Shapiro’s solution to the “Possibility Puzzle”