Inclusive Positivism and the Arguments from Authority

Abstract

This chapter explores the various tensions that might be thought to arise between the Incorporation Thesis and practical authority. The Incorporation Thesis states that there is a conceptually possible legal system with moral criteria of validity. In such a legal system, the properties that constitute a norm as legally valid include properties having to do with whether its content satisfies certain moral standards. This chapter begins with a general discussion of the differences between practical and epistemic authority. The chapter then articulates the various theses associated with the so-called service conception of authority and concludes with a summary of the arguments for the claim that this conception of authority is inconsistent with the Incorporation Thesis.