Kelsen’s Metaethics

Abstract

In this article, I argue, inter alia, that Kelsen’s mature view—as expressed in, and around the time of, the second edition of Reine Rechtslehre—was that of a metaethical relativist, and that the commitment to metaethical relativism was the reason why Kelsen defended democracy as well as tolerance in the shape of a constitutionally guaranteed freedom of thought. I also consider the possibility that in his post-1960 phase Kelsen abandoned metaethical relativism for moral fictionalism, but argue that, on the whole, a relativist interpretation of Kelsen’s late legal philosophy is to be preferred to a fictionalist interpretation.