Dyrda Adam, Reflective Legal Positivism

A large part of contemporary general jurisprudence seems to be a living scientific remnant similar to that of the history of science, which refers to theories of the „Newtonian age”. By analogy to the classical approach in physics, traditionally accepted approaches to the concept of law – like legal positivism or naturalism – are supposed to serve as the final answers to the (allegedly) essential question of jurisprudence: What are the mechanics of law and what are its basic concepts, including the general concept of law? The main line of criticism with regard to the classical doctrines is similar to the criticism of Newtonian mechanics during the 19^thcentury. The increasing number of experimental results (so-called anomalies) did not fit the predictions of the classical physical theory. This meant that the ability of Newtonian mechanics to explain and predict natural phenomena had been exhausted, the theoretical framework could not account for new anomalies and better, more inclusive...