Introduction: Positivism, Constitutionalism and Contexts

The new edition of Nicola Matteucci's Positivismo giuridico e costituzionalismo , which includes the response by Norberto Bobbio, is the occasion to rethinking the relation between legal positivism and constitutionalism. Moving from the cultural sphere and the different theoretical backgrounds underlying the perspectives developed by the two scholars, the contribution highlights some conceptual points related to this debate: the theoretical -methodological level, the horizon of the "contents" implied by constitutionalism and legal positivism (i.e. Matteucci e Bobbio) and, finally, the reflexes in view of a politics of law. In conclusion, the comparison Matteucci-Bobbio allows to rediscuss a particular model of legal methodology, the conceptual pair State -Constitution as well as the positivist framework, especially in order to grasp the role played by the implicit dimension ("common sense", "shared culture") connected to the legal experience as a whole.