View source for Biography:Robert Alexy

{{Short description|German jurist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Robert Alexy
| image             = Robert alexy.jpg
| image_size        = 200px
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1945|9|9|df=y}}
| birth_place       = Oldenburg, {{wipe|Germany}}
| nationality       = German
| alma_mater        = University of Göttingen
| doctoral_advisor  = Ralf Dreier
| doctoral_students = [[Biography:Mattias Kumm|Mattias Kumm]]
| field             = [[Philosophy:Law|Law]]
| work_institution  = University of Kiel
| prizes            = Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2010)
}}
'''Robert Alexy''' (born 9 September 1945 in Oldenburg, {{wipe|Germany}}) is a [[Social:Jurist|jurist]] and a [[Philosophy:Philosophy of law|legal philosopher]].

Alexy studied [[Philosophy:Law|law]] and [[Philosophy:Philosophy|philosophy]] at the University of Göttingen. He received his J.D. in 1976 with the dissertation ''A Theory of Legal Argumentation'', and he achieved his [[Social:Habilitation|Habilitation]] in 1984 with a ''Theory of Constitutional Rights''.

He is a professor at the University of Kiel<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alexy.jura.uni-kiel.de/|title=Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Robert Alexy|publisher=CAU|access-date=22 January 2011}}</ref> and in 2002 he was appointed to the Academy of Sciences and Humanities at the University of Göttingen.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/186855.html|title=Mitglieder|publisher=University of Göttingen|access-date=22 January 2011}}</ref> In 2010 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uni-kiel.de/aktuell/pm/2010/2010-066-alexy-verdienstkreuz.shtml|title=Professor Robert Alexy erhält das Verdienstkreuz 1. Klasse|date=20 April 2010|publisher=Christian-Albrechts-Universität|language=de|access-date=22 January 2011}}</ref>

Since 2008 the Universities of Alicante, Buenos Aires, Tucumán, [[Organization:University of Antwerp|Antwerp]], [[Organization:National University of San Marcos|National University of San Marcos in Lima]], [[Organization:Charles University|Prague]], [[Organization:University of Coimbra|Coimbra]], Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Chapecó, Rio de Janeiro and Bogotá awarded him the honorary doctorate degree.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.alexy.jura.uni-kiel.de/de|title=CV Professor Robert Alexy|date=9 December 2016|publisher=Christian-Albrechts-Universität|language=de|access-date=9 December 2016}}</ref>

== Natural law theory ==
{{BLP unsourced section|date=June 2019}}
Alexy's [[Philosophy:Definition|definition]] of [[Philosophy:Law|law]] looks like a mix of [[Biography:Hans Kelsen|Kelsen]]'s normativism (which was an influential version of [[Philosophy:Legal positivism|legal positivism]]) and Radbruch's [[Philosophy:Natural law|legal naturalism]] (Alexy, 2002), but Alexy's [[Philosophy:Argumentation theory|theory of argumentation]] (Alexy, 1983) puts him very close to [[Philosophy:Interpretivism (legal)|legal interpretivism]].

In ''The Argument From Injustice'', Alexy defends Radbruch's formula that injust or evil laws only lose their legal validity when they deliberately disavow justice and equality. He formulated law's relationship to morality on three theses:

* The thesis of incorporation; each legal system contains principles.
* The moral thesis; law must be related to a common moral.
* The correctness thesis; law must be related to a just moral.

At the heart of his theory is the claim to correctness: Law must necessarily claim to be correct, no matter how corrupt, lest it be self-contradictory and fundamentally illogical. As law coerces behaviour and gives individuals decisive reasons for acting, the correctness it claims must also be moral.

== Publications ==

*Theorie der juristischen Argumentation. Die Theorie des rationalen Diskurses als Theorie der juristischen Begründung (Suhrkamp, 1983; first edition 1978)
**Translated by [[Biography:Neil MacCormick|Neil MacCormick]] as "A Theory of Legal Argumentation: The Theory of Rational Discourse as Theory of Legal Justification" (Clarendon, 1989)
*Theorie der Grundrechte (Suhrkamp, 1985; second edition 1994)
**Translated by Julian Rivers as "A Theory of Constitutional Rights" (Oxford University Press, 2002)
*Mauerschützen (Vandenhoeck + Ruprecht, 1993)
*Recht, Vernunft, Diskurs (Suhrkamp, 1995)
*Der Beschluß des Bundesverfassungsgerichts zu den Tötungen an der innerdeutschen Grenze vom 24. Oktober 1996 (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1997)
*Begriff und Geltung des Rechts (Verlag Karl Alber, 1992)
**Translated by Stanley Paulson and Bonnie Litschewski Paulson as "The Argument from Injustice: A Reply to Legal Positivism" (Oxford University Press, 2002)
*Elemente einer juristischen Begründungslehre, co-edited with Hans-Joachim Koch, Lothar Kuhlen and Helmut Rüßmann (Nomos, 2003)

==Further reading==
*George Pavlakos (ed), ''Law, Rights and Discourse: The Legal Philosophy of Robert Alexy'' (Hart Publishing, 2007)
*Matthias Klatt (ed), ''Institutionalized Reason: The Jurisprudence of Robert Alexy'' (Oxford University Press, 2012)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{jurisprudence}}


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[[Category:Philosophers of law]]

{{Sourceattribution|Robert Alexy}}