Three aporias (and some other question) in Luigi Ferrajoli’s works

Abstract

Luigi Ferrajoli has recently engaged in a comprehensive critical assessment of Hans Kelsen’s legal philosophy, and in the process he uses Kelsen’s (allegedly) mistaken ideas as a sort of springboard to make his own jurisprudential stance more compelling. In the present occasion I try, in turn, to put to test some key ideas from Ferrajoli’s legal philosophy, in particular Ferrajoli’s concepts of democracy, validity, and fundamental rights.