The idea of retribution in Ancient philosophy as a prototype of the principle of causality: normativist arguments

Abstract

The paper analyzes the arguments of normativism on historical and philosophical reconstruction of the idea of retribution in ancient philosophy as a prototype of the principle of causality. Based on the Kelsen’s ideas presented in the book Society and Nature, the features of mythological, religious and philosophical justification of the idea of retribution for sins and violations of positive rules in ancient society are revealed. The author comes to the conclusion that the idea of retribution, which is methodologically important for building a pure theory of law, is further transformed into the principle of imputation, which characteristic for the social studies and humanities, within Kelsen denies the principle of causality.