This collection of original essays by leading legal philosophers offers a thought-provoking assessment of the nature and viability of legal positivism. A central and long-standing debate in legal philosophy concerns the idea of ​​legal positivism. Roughly speaking, what positivists deny, and what antipositivists affirm, is that the law has a particular k. Legal positivism. First published Friday. Legal positivism is the thesis according to which the existence and content of law depend on social facts and not on them. John Austin is considered by many to be the creator of the analytical school of jurisprudence, as well as, more specifically, the approach to law known as "legal positivism". Austin's particular theory of command law has been the subject of pervasive criticism, but its simplicity gives it an evocative power that continues to attract its adherents.1. The terms "jurisprudence" and "legal theory" are applied to a large number of different intellectual enterprises that have law as their subject. I discuss in this essay only philosophical jurisprudence, or the philosophy of law, the main task of which is to provide a general overview of the nature of law and legal reasoning. Abstract. This collection of original essays by leading legal philosophers offers a thought-provoking assessment of the nature and viability of legal positivism, an approach to legal theory that continues to dominate contemporary legal theoretical debates. To what extent is law adequately described as autonomous? As such, morality is a condition for the existence of law. Legal positivism considers that the existence of law is a question of social fact. This article will unpack what this means and the specific claims of ILP Inclusive Legal Positivism, a conception of law that draws on and takes account of positivist claims about the nature of law. Legal positivism is associated with the idea that law is a question of social fact. Naturalism is a philosophical principle that suggests, among other things, the importance of scientific discoveries and.