Нормативність права в сучасній українській теорії та філософії права

English

Normativity of law in modern Ukrainian legal theory and philosophy

Abstract. Introduction. This article explores the problem of the normativity of law as a key philosophical and theoretical concept that plays a decisive role in understanding the nature of law, its binding force, and the legitimacy of positive law. The authors emphasize the significant differences in the understanding of normativity within modern Ukrainian legal theory and philosophy of law, which leads to methodological inconsistency in the national legal science. Purpose. The aim of the article is to examine how the normativity of law is understood in the current Ukrainian system of legal knowledge. Materials and Methods. The research is based on the works of Ukrainian scholars whose academic and practical studies address the issue of legal normativity. To achieve the stated objective, the following methods were applied: historical, analytical, synthetic, deductive, comparative-legal, and hermeneutic. Results. The study reveals that in Ukrainian legal theory, normativity is often identified with such features of legal norms as generality, impersonality, and repeatability ‒ characteristics that, in fact, represent other properties of legal norms. At the same time, the concept of normativity as the justificatory force of law is largely overlooked. In contrast, Ukrainian philosophy of law interprets normativity as the law’s capacity to bind, serving as a source of reasons for action. This methodological divergence between legal theory and legal philosophy causes conceptual confusion in Ukrainian jurisprudence and impedes the development of a coherent understanding of the nature, binding character, and legitimacy of law. The research demonstrates that contemporary Ukrainian philosophy of law significantly integrates approaches from the Western European legal-philosophical tradition, whereas legal theory often remains detached from that discourse or incorporates it only fragmentarily. Discussion. Future research on the problem of normativity should be aligned with Ukraine’s European integration processes and involve international scholarly collaboration in the field of law. Particular attention should be paid to the practical aspects of legal normativity, such as its effect on the interaction of individuals with positive law and the consideration by legislators of the justificatory foundations of normativity in the law-making process.

Keywords: normativity of law; philosophy of law; theory of law; binding force; obligattion; legitimacy of law