Contemporary legal positivism

Author Biography

• Alfredo Fragueiro, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba

  (Córdoba, 1899 ; Córdoba, 1975) Lawyer, Philosopher, Professor. Fragueiro was born in Cordoba in 1899 and like so many other illustrious sons of the city, he attended high school at the Monserrat School where he was president of the Catholic Students Club; in 1917, he was already a public lecturer as can be seen in the newspapers of the time. He entered the Law School from which he graduated in 1926. Two years later he was appointed substitute professor of Philosophy of Law in the chair headed by Dr. Martínez Paz, and in 1928 he published his first book: "La justicia en el idealismo crítico" (Justice in critical idealism). In 1930 he defended his doctoral thesis on natural law in the work of Francisco Geny, and three years later he published his first important book, "Libertad y autoridad". In 1934 Fragueiro was inducted into the International Institute of Philosophy of Law in Paris, and the following year he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at Monserrat College in the vacancy left by Manuel Río. Simultaneously, he was professor of History of Philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy and in 1940, he obtained the title of Professor of Introduction to Philosophy. At the Law School he taught Philosophy of Law for many years: first as a substitute professor from 1928 and then as a full professor from 1946 to 1955. Later he was appointed Professor of Natural Law at the Catholic University of Córdoba. In addition to philosophy, Fragueiro had other concerns and cultural activities: he was a musician; he was also a mineralogy enthusiast and built up a mineral collection which, according to experts, is one of the best in Latin America. In 1974 he donated his invaluable collection to the Provincial Museum of Natural Sciences. His fundamental works, besides the Introduction to the Problems of Philosophy (1943) are harmoniously staggered: Of the Causes of Law (1949), The Analogy of Law (1952) and Structuralism and Depersonalization (1974), in addition to numerous minor essays and some unpublished writings.