The aim of this essay is to analyse how Kelsen criticises the major theories of sociology and social psychology of his time (Durkheim, Simmel, Weber and Freud) in order to liberate law and democracy from what he calls collective hypostasis or the mythology of the "collective soul". The first part investigates how Kelsen criticises the metaphors of the collective soul. The second part addresses how Kelsen built a theory of law and democracy that sought to escape from problems correlated to the metaphors of the collective soul. The results enable the reader to glimpse some common points between Kelsen's ideas and contemporary projects to elaborate a theory of law and democracy released from the premises implicated by the idea of a uniform community.
Kelsen; Durkheim; Simmel; Weber; Freud; Démocratie