The Place for Morality in Law: An Exchange between Robert Alexy and Joseph Raz

PAULA GAIDO

Juiz do Fora

Congreso; Congresso Internacional em Direito e Inovacao: O Pensamento de Robert Alexy como Sistema: Argumentacao Juridica, Direitos Fundamentais, Conceito e Validade do Direito; 2015

Universidad Federal Juiz do Fora

There is a recurrent debate in legal theory related to which is the better way to understand law. Many prominent legal theorists maintain that it is crucial to understand law to determine whether there is a necessary relation between law and morality. Robert Alexy is one of them. All his writings from the very beginning were surrounded by this idea. In this paper I want to highlight how sharing the idea that there is a necessary connection between law and morality stimulates the discussion about the better way to understand law, rather than to put an end to it. Robert Alexy and Joseph Raz are the authors I have chosen to make this point. Although they coincide that to understand what law is it is necessary to understand a moral value, they explain this moral value differently. Their different understanding of the moral value to which law is necessarily bounded has (in principle) big impact. They determine their view of how to identify normative dispositions that integrate legal systems, as well as their practical force. El trabajo será publicado en dos libros diferentes. Será publicado en portugués como: "O Lugar da Moral no Dereito: Um Intercambio entre Robert Alexy e Joseph Raz," en C. Toledo (ed.), The Thought of Robert Alexy as a System: Legal Argumentation, Fundamental Rights, Concept and Validity of Law, en prensa (aceptado para su publicación año 2015). Será publicado en inglés como: "The Place for Morality in Law: An Exchange Between Robert Alexy and Joseph Raz," en M. Borowski, S. Paulson, J. Sieckmann (eds.), "Rechtsphilosophie und Grundrechtstheorie. Das System Robert Alexys", Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, 2015, en prensa (aceptado para su publicación año 2015).