La sociología implícita en la teoría pura del derecho

An attempt is made to establish the place of sociological analysis within the scheme of Kelsen’s pure theory. In this respect, it is argued that the proposal of an exclusively normative approach to law rests on a set of empirical conditions, on the verification of which the very possibility of assuming the Grundnorm of a system depends. Thus, when it comes to identifying something as law, it becomes necessary to examine the overarching relationship between validity and efficacy. But this can only be done by including knowledge beyond the legal science, that is, of a political and sociological nature. Correspondingly, this paper begins by presenting the ontological split between Sein and Sollen adopted by Kelsen as the basis for his methodological distinction between empirical and normative sciences. Then, this distinction is questioned from the perspective of the requirement of efficacy imposed on the validity of law, so as to finally arrive to the work’s conclusion. That is, that the pure theory presupposes a certain sociology in order to determine its own subject of study.