Law and the many oughts

Abstract

The present work explores aspects of the nature of legal normativity, approaching the topic from the context of claims about the variety of and interactions among our multiple normativities. The article offers some reflections on the multiplicity of normative systems and normative claims and discusses a number of ways in which that multiplicity has been reflected in well-known debates within legal philosophy. Among the theories and theorists featured are the American and Scandinavian legal realists, along with Hans Kelsen, H. L. A. Hart, Mark Greenberg, and Joseph Raz. The article ultimately returns to the controversial claim that legal normativity (legal obligation) is sui generis, requiring no reduction to or translation into some other form of normative or empirical discourse.