Abstract

One of the most relevant contributions given by Amedeo G. Conte to the investigation of normative phenomena is his theory of the validity of norms. But what is the real object of a theory of the validity of norms? And what is a norm? This paper revisits the developments of Conte’s theory of validity and highlights the pragmatical and ontological turn that led Conte to introduce the concept of deontic state-of-affairs and to abandon a strictly linguistic conception of normative phenomena.