The Legal Philosophy of Lon L. Fuller: Profile

Abstract

This study addresses how Lon L. Fuller (1902-1978), who was one of the foremost American legal philosophers in the mid-twentieth century, has an influential role in developing the discipline of legal philosophy or jurisprudence. From Fuller’s legal philosophy and his intellectual enterprise, several important themes, such as Fuller’s methodology, the internal morality of law, and the theory of good-social-order “eunomics” have been revisited and analysed in this study. The conclusion is striking and in clear contribution to Fuller’s project on legal studies. But more interesting, this study also highlights some of the current trends and themes, which are departing from both traditions of legal positivists and natural lawyers, in the contemporary jurisprudential studies. The article thus can be considered as, on the one hand, an entry to Fuller’s thought, and as a platform to his influence on the current Fullerian Turn and other legal and moral applications that inspired by Fuller’s dialogue, on the other hand.

Keywords: philosophy of law, the Rule of Law, Lon L. Fuller, Fullerian jurirdpudance, methodology