Society and Nature: A Sociological Inquiry

Originally published: London: K. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., [1946]. viii, 391 pp. This interesting work offers a sociological and ethnographic perspective on Kelsen's juristic thinking. His central thesis, which ranges over the history of humanity, argues that the idea of causality developed from primitive ideas of retribution. He shows how early man developed his interpretation of nature through the laws of retribution and causality, then developed our current concept of nature and society over time. He holds that the gradual emancipation of the law of causality from the principle of retribution is "the emancipation from a social interpretation of nature," a process "very important from the point of view of intellectual history." (Introduction viii). Society and Nature was originally published in 1943 to mixed reviews. It deserves a fresh appraisal for its original ideas and insights into his theory of pure positive law outlined in his General Theory of Law and State and Pure Theory of Law, both available in reprint editions by The Lawbook Exchange.