Pour une philosophie réaliste du droit: villey et les équivoques sur le droit naturel

Given the crisis of modern metanarratives, the philosopher of law needs to return to realism. Philosophy must face the world again and leave aside the haughtiness of modern idealism that lessens experience by making it simply the object of thought or language. Villey provides useful elements for a critique of constructivism and for a return to the authentic meaning of law. The essence of law cannot be a priori deduced from reason as if it were a set of metahistorical principles of natural law. On the contrary, it is embodied in the living materiality of juridical experience. In the wake of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, Villey's philosopy of law possesses a strong dialectical component: law is the work of reason in history, a never-ending effort to determine what is right for each specific case, and founded on “good” reasons and persuasive arguments.