The Open Ethics Journal

2013, 7 : 01-08
Published online 2013 February 08. DOI: 10.2174/1874761201307010001
Publisher ID: TOJ-7-1

A Nietzschean Justification of Legal Realism

Keith William Diener
George Washington University School of Business Professorial Lecturer of Law, George Washington University Law School

ABSTRACT

This essay examines the thought of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, the advances made by the legal realist juris-prudential movement, and correlates the two. It concludes that legal realism is entailed in Nietzschean metaphysics, and particularly his doctrine of will to power. Legal realism is determined to be a symptom of the more comprehensive Nietzschean principle of power. A preliminary framework for a Nietzschean justification of legal realism is developed.

Keywords:

Ethics, Experimental Ethics, Jurisprudence, Legal Realism, Nietzsche, Will to Power.