ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the intellectual conditions that led to the emergence of legal positivism. It suggests that positivism was made possible, in part, by a changing conception of the moral basis of a system of laws. Once seen as a rational reflection of human nature, law gradually came to be viewed as an artificial product of the state. The emergence of doctrinal legal science represents an intellectual achievement of considerable importance and sophistication. Legal doctrine presents an especially valuable context for theoretical reflection, for it is the aspect of modern legal order in which the moral dimension of law is most apparent. The shift towards a statist conception of law entails certain assumptions about official determinations of the content of legal rules. The attempt to understand law in terms of formal authority was a response to the circumstances of disagreement that characterise the modern world.
