S. S. Alekseev on the Philosophy of Law

The article focuses on the approach of the famous Soviet and Russian legal scholar, one of the authors of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and head of the working group engaged in the development of the first part of the RF Civil Code, Chairman of the Committee for Constitutional Supervision of the USSR (1989-1991) Sergei Sergeyevich Alekseev (1924-2013). He argued that the philosophy of law can be considered both in a “pure” philosophical vein and from a legal point of view. In the latter case, this scientific discipline is part of jurisprudence, and in the former – belongs to philosophical disciplines, including, where appropriate, the history of philosophical teachings. In the legal philosophy of law, the scientist distinguishes the philosophy of humanistic law, which he also calls the philosophy of freedom, lawfulness and personocentrism, as well as the communist philosophy of law, which prevailed in the USSR for three quarters of the last century and continues to exert a certain influence today.