Joseph Raz’s Approach to Legal Positivism

Bix considers that Joseph Raz might not be willing to accept that legal positivism is a theory, or stance, that is sufficiently well-defined to be captured in a few main tenets, thinking of it rather as a tradition of legal thinkers held together in a rather loose way. Bix focuses his discussion on Raz’s version of the social thesis, the so-called sources thesis, according to which all law is source-based, in the sense that the existence and content of the law is determined using exclusively factual (social) considerations. Bix considers Raz’s two main arguments in support of the sources thesis - the argument from authority and the argument from different functions - as well as certain objections to these arguments put forward by other legal philosophers.