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Samuel Pufendorf was a pivotal figure in the early German
Enlightenment and, along with Grotius, the great renewer of natural
law theory. His version of voluntarist natural law theory had a
major influence both on the European continent and in the
English-speaking world, particularly Scotland and America. "An
Introduction to the History of the Principal Kingdoms and States of
Europe" was first translated in 1695 but has been rare in English
since the late eighteenth century.Pufendorf's histories exhibit the
core notions of his natural law theory by recounting the
development and current, reciprocal relations of individual states
as collective social agents engaged in securing their own and,
thus, their members' interests, including self-preservation. Hence,
his histories essentially functioned as vehicles for philosophical
demonstration or justification. Moreover, by emphasizing empirical
details and legitimating (in principle) the de facto politics of
interest, these histories appealed strongly to the emerging
nation-states of early modern Europe, which sought ratification of
their external and internal actions, policies, and pedagogies. He
based his account on the respective country's own historians and
took care to describe its position from its own current and
historical perspectives. It was a novel and appealing approach to
political history, judging from the long and diverse publishing
record of the work.Samuel Pufendorf (1632-1694) was one of the most
important figures in early-modern political thought. An exact
contemporary of Locke and Spinoza, he transformed the natural law
theories of Grotius and Hobbes, developed striking ideas of
toleration and of the relationship between church and state, and
wrote extensive political histories and analyses of the
constitution of the German empire.Jodocus Crull (d. 1713/14) was a
German emigre to England, a medical man, and a translator and
writer.Michael J. Seidler is Professor of Philosophy at Western
Kentucky University.Knud Haakonssen is Professor of Intellectual
History at the University of Sussex, England.
Samuel Pufendorf's seminal work, "The Whole Duty of Man, According
to the Law of Nature" (first published in Latin in 1673), was among
the first to suggest a purely conventional basis for natural law.
Rejecting scholasticism's metaphysical theories, Pufendorf found
the source of natural law in humanity's need to cultivate
sociability. At the same time, he distanced himself from Hobbes's
deduction of such needs from self-interest. The result was a
sophisticated theory of the conventional character of man's social
persona and of all political institutions.Pufendorf wrote this work
to make his insights accessible to a wide range of readers,
especially university students. As ministers, teachers, and public
servants, they would have to struggle with issues of sovereignty
and of the relationship between church and state that dominated the
new state system of Europe in the aftermath of the Peace of
Westphalia (1648)."The Whole Duty" was first translated into
English in 1691. The fourth edition was significantly revised--by
anonymous editors--to include a great deal of the very important
editorial material from Jean Barbeyrac's French editions. This was
reproduced in the fifth edition from 1735 that is republished here.
The English translation provides a fascinating insight into the
transplantation of Pufendorf's political theory from a German
absolutist milieu to an English parliamentarian one.Samuel
Pufendorf (1632-1694) was one of the most important figures in
early-modern political thought. An exact contemporary of Locke and
Spinoza, he transformed the natural law theories of Grotius and
Hobbes, developed striking ideas of toleration and of the
relationship between church and state, and wrote extensive
political histories and analyses of the constitution of the German
empire.Jean Barbeyrac (1674-1744) was a Huguenot refugee who taught
natural law successively in Berlin, Lausanne, and Amsterdam, and
edited and translated into French the major natural law works of
Grotius, Pufendorf, and Cumberland.Andrew Tooke (1673-1732) was
headmaster of Chaterhouse School and professor of geometry at
Gresham College, London.Ian Hunter is Australian Professorial
Fellow in the Centre for the History of European Discourses,
University of Queensland.David Saunders is Professor Emeritus in
the Faculty of Arts at Griffith University.Knud Haakonssen is
Professor of Intellectual History at the University of Sussex,
England.
Samuel Pufendorf's "Of the Nature and Qualification of Religion"
(published in Latin in 1687) is a major work on the separation of
politics and religion. Written in response to the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes by the French king Louis XIV, Pufendorf contests
the right of the sovereign to control the religion of his subjects,
because state and religion pursue wholly different ends. He
concludes that, when rulers transgress their bounds, subjects have
a right to defend their religion, even by the force of
arms.Pufendorf's opposition to the French king does not demonstrate
political radicalism. Instead, like John Locke and others who
defended the concept of toleration, Pufendorf advocates a
principled, moderate defense of toleration rather than unlimited
religious liberty.Appearing at the dawn of the Enlightenment,
Pufendorf's ideas on natural law and toleration were highly
influential in both Europe and the British Isles. As Simone
Zurbuchen explains in the introduction, "Of the Nature and
Qualification of Religion" is a major contribution to the history
and literature of religious toleration.Samuel Pufendorf (1632-1694)
was one of the most important figures in early-modern political
thought. An exact contemporary of Locke and Spinoza, he transformed
the natural law theories of Grotius and Hobbes, developed striking
ideas of toleration and of the relationship between church and
state, and wrote extensive political histories and analyses of the
constitution of the German empire.Jodocus Crull (d. 1713/14) was a
German emigre to England, a medical man, and a translator and
writer.Simone Zurbuchen is Professor of Philosophy at the
University of Fribourg, Switzerland.Knud Haakonssen is Professor of
Intellectual History at the University of Sussex, England.
Although 'The Present State of Germany' was first made available in
English over three centuries ago, it has been virtually unavailable
in English since the period of the American Founding. By 1696,
Pufendorf was well known in England as a staunch defender of the
Protestant cause and as one of the renovators of natural law. His
writings were familiar to such luminaries as Locke and figured
prominently in James Tyrells 'Patriarcha non Monarcha' (1681).
"Two Books of the Elements of Universal Jurisprudence" was
Pufendorf's first work, published in 1660. Its appearance
effectively inaugurated the modern natural-law movement in the
German-speaking world. The work also established Pufendorf as a key
figure and laid the foundations for his major works, which were to
sweep across Europe and North America."Elements of Universal
Jurisprudence" established Pufendorf's political theory, which,
when fully developed, became the most significant alternative to
rights-based theories. Pufendorf rejected the concept of natural
rights as liberties and the suggestion that political government is
justified by its protection of such rights, arguing instead for a
principled limit to the state's role in human life. The Liberty
Fund edition is based on the translation by William Abbott
Oldfather prepared for the Classics of International Law series
published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.Samuel
Pufendorf (1632-1694) was one of the most important figures in
early-modern political thought. An exact contemporary of Locke and
Spinoza, he transformed the natural law theories of Grotius and
Hobbes, developed striking ideas of toleration and of the
relationship between church and state, and wrote extensive
political histories and analyses of the constitution of the German
empire.Thomas Behme is a member of the Institute for Philosophy at
the Free University of Berlin.William Abbott Oldfather (1880-1945)
was Professor of Classics at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign.Knud Haakonssen is Professor of Intellectual
History at the University of Sussex, England.
Samuel Pufendorf is one of the most important moral and political philosophers of the seventeenth century. His theory, which builds on Grotius and Hobbes, was immediately recognized as a classic and taken up by writers as diverse as Locke, Hume, Rousseau, and Smith. Over the past twenty years there has been a renaissance of Pufendorf scholarship. On the Duty of Man and Citizen is Pufendorf's own epitome of his monumental On the Law of Nature and of Nations, and it served as a basic text in European universities throughout the Enlightenment. This edition has a lucid and historically sensitive translation by Michael Silverthorne, the first since the early twentieth century. James Tully's introduction sets the text in its context, summarizes the main arguments, surveys recent literature on Pufendorf, and shows how Pufendorf transformed natural law theory into an independent discipline of juristic political philosophy that dominated reflection on politics until Kant.
Originally published posthumously, in Latin, in 1695, "The Divine
Feudal Law" sets forth Pufendorf's basis for the reunion of the
Lutheran and Calvinist confessions. This attempt to seek a
"conciliation" between the confessions complements the concept of
toleration discussed in "Of the Nature and Qualification of
Religion in Reference to Civil Society." In both works Pufendorf
examines the proper way to secure the peaceful coexistence of
different confessions in a state.Although he argued in "Of the
Nature" that maintaining peace and order in the state does not
require all subjects to share one belief, Pufendorf also believed
that "true" Christianity was beneficial to society. For that reason
he advocated a reunion of the confessions on the basis of
fundamental truths that he believed were contained in the Bible,
saying a conciliation should be enforced not by law but by mutual
agreement of the dissenting parties. Therefore, the reunion of the
confessions must be accompanied by toleration.Samuel Pufendorf
(1632-1694) was one of the most important figures in early-modern
political thought. An exact contemporary of Locke and Spinoza, he
transformed the natural law theories of Grotius and Hobbes,
developed striking ideas of toleration and of the relationship
between church and state, and wrote extensive political histories
and analyses of the constitution of the German empire.Theophilus
Dorrington (1654-1715) was an Anglican clergyman and polemicist
against Dissent.Simone Zurbuchen is Professor of Philosophy at the
University of Fribourg, Switzerland.Knud Haakonssen is Professor of
Intellectual History at the University of Sussex, England.
This new scholarly edition of Samuel Pufendorf's seminal The Whole
Duty of Man According to the Law of Nature is among the first to
suggest a purely conventional basis for natural law. Pufendorf
wrote this work to make his insights accessible to a wide range of
readers, especially university students, who were struggling with
issues of church and state. Although indebted to Hobbes and
Grotius, the work outlines a new understanding of ethics and
politics, one suited to states that were emerging from the
aftermath of religious civil war.
Samuel Pufendorf's 1687 work Of the Nature and Qualification of
Religion is considered one of the major works setting forth the
doctrine of separation of politics and religion. Written in
response to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by the French
king, Louis XIV, Pufendorf contests the right of the sovereign to
control the religion of his subjects, because state and religion
pursue wholly different ends. He concludes that, when rulers
transgress their bounds, the subjects have a right to defend their
religion, even by the force of arms.
Samuel Pufendorf was a pivotal figure in the early German
Enlightenment and, along with Grotius, the great renewer of natural
law theory. His version of voluntarist natural law theory had a
major influence both on the European continent and in the English
speaking world, particularly Scotland and America. "An Introduction
to the History of the Principal Kingdoms & States of Europe"
was first translated in 1695 but has been rare in English since the
late eighteenth century. Pufendorf's histories exhibit the core
notions of his natural law theory by recounting the development and
current, reciprocal relations of individual states as collective
social agents engaged in securing their own and, thus, their
members' interests, including self-preservation. Hence, his
histories essentially functioned as vehicles for philosophical
demonstration or justification. Moreover, by emphasising empirical
details and legitimating (in principle) the de facto politics of
interest, these histories appealed strongly to the emerging
nation-states of early modern Europe, which sought ratification of
their external and internal actions, policies, and pedagogues. He
based his account on the respective country's own historians and
took care to describe its position from its own current and
historical perspectives. It was a novel and appealing approach to
political history, judging from the long and diverse publishing
record of the work.
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