Abstract

In the context of the works that Hans Kelsen has devoted to the theory of the State, there is a recurrent encounter between two different lines of research: the first regards the discussion of the logical status of legal science; the second concerns the mythological and socio-anthropological study of primitive communities. By analyzing these two perspectives, it will be shown that Kelsen conducted his analysis of juridical concepts with the help of Ernst Cassirer’s epistemological program, while his study of primitive societies was achieved by emphasizing the possibility of human thought to produce imagines and acts of personification.