Efficacy without Fulfilment : An Essay on the Phenomenology of Nomotropism

Kelsen’s analysis of efficacy [Wirksamkeit] of norms seems to lead to an overlap between the concept of efficacy [Wirksamkeit] and the concept of fulfilment, or conformity [Entsprechung]. Starting from a critical examination of Kelsen’s conception and drawing from the phenomenology of the relationship between norms and actions, the article focuses on the possibility of conceiving a form of efficacy without fulfilment. The article is divided into two parts: in the first part, I will illustrate the conception of efficacy [Wirksamkeit] as fulfilment, or conformity [Entsprechung], a conception that I will call semantic conception of efficacy; in the second part, I will show some limitations and shortcomings of the semantic conception of efficacy, and I will give some examples of efficacy [Wirksamkeit] without fulfilment, or efficacy without conformity [Entsprechung].