be this: Is it possible - in a scientifically acceptable manner - on the one hand, to uphold the idea of lasting or permanent rights, and on the other, simultaneously accept the proposition that law is a positive phenomenon, which by virtue of its positive character is subject to alterations? In other words, is a quasi-positivistic science of law possible to maintain without adverse effects on the quality of its results? The problem that Hägerström confronted concerns law as expressed in contemporary legal philosophy itself, as well as in contemporary legal science - more specifically legal dogmatics. Provided that Hägerström’s overriding goal was to secure the certainty of scientific knowledge, then one can ask: Is a non-contradictory theory of law possible at all? On the basis of Hägerström’s philosophical inquiries it is safe to conclude that he, as a philosopher, wished to supply legal science, an object-related science, with a method of uncovering surviving elements of legal metaphysics, natural law, especially by pointing to the non-cognitive nature of values. Hägerström thereby also implies the actual limits of the philosophical mandate to criticize law and legal science, namely the negative mandate of the philosophical critique, thus effectively denying philosophy the license to provide material premisses - that is, superior legal norms, to be applied in law, legal practice, and jurisprudence. This in turn implies a corresponding restriction in the jurisprudential license to act as a law-maker, a legislator. As demonstrated above, Hägerström’s theory of values is noncognitivistic, with elements of an error-theory, a theory of valuefalsism according to which some values are false.89 Within the sphere of this investigation, the only form of Hägerström’s theory of values that will be addressed is its non-cognitive form, as a ca l l f o r s c i e n t i f i c p u r i t y 319 2 . 3 the current status and state of juri sprudence 89 Petersson, Värdeteori, pp. 9, 13-14, 129-132, and 162-168; Lang, Wertung, pp. 84-86.
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