This article highlights a facet of Hans Kelsen’s research that has remained relatively unexplored up to now: namely, the profound reflections on history, which Kelsen proposes in the context of his speculation on international peace. Firstly, the article outlines how Kelsen, by considering the future of humankind, elaborates a philosophy of history that fosters peace and, due to its "promotional" nature, is similar to Immanuel Kant’s as well as Norberto Bobbio’s theory of history. Secondly, this paper considers how some of Kelsen’s assumptions that underlie his project for the pacification of international relations have confirmation, through historical, sociological and anthropological inquiries on primitive law. Therefore, the present paper draws an original portrait of Hans Kelsen, i.e., it does not depict a scholar engaged in research on the formal structure of law, but a jurist interested in law as a real and historical phenomenon; it does not show a strict positivist, but rather a thinker involved in the promotion of the fundamental political values.
Keywords: Hans Kelsen "Legal pacifism - Philosophy of history - History of law - Primitive legal system - International law