Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Early Modern Natural Law Theories pp 297–317Cite as

Natural Law and Enlightenment in France and Scotland — A Comparative Perspective

  • Chapter

Abstract

One of the predominant theories in political and social philosophy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries can arguably be identified in the modern natural law tradition, which was inaugurated and shaped by the influential writings of Hugo Grotius and then further developed by scholars like Samuel Pufendorf, Christian Thomasius or later by Christian Wolff. Pufendorf and Thomasius themselves fostered this picture of a linear and purposeful development from Grotius to their own writings.1 The Scottish philosophers, unlike those of any other country, were deeply influenced by this continental — mainly Dutch and German — brand of thought. In particular the Chair of Moral Philosophy at the university of Glasgow proved to play one of the key-roles in incorporating the natural law tradition. Obviously one cannot consider the natural law tradition as one homogenous block, nor can or should one consider the Scottish or French enlightenment in such a manner. The main concern of this chapter is a comparison, which will contribute to the endeavour to establish the cosmopolitan nature of European intellectual discourse in social and political theory during the eighteenth century. The case of Samuel Pufendorf will be considered as starting point, since his work played a central role in many of the contemporary debates of the early eighteenth century.2 Although most of the different discourses later used some aspects of Pufendorf s theory, it was frequently exploited with near contradictory aims and purposes.

As so often I benefited from discussions with Tim Hochstrasser, and his pertinent criticism. I also want to thank Oliver Davis (Oxford) and Andrea Branchi (Rome) for their helpful comments on this paper. Thanks are also due to the Gerda-Henkel-Stiftung which awarded me a research grant in 2000.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

Primary Sources

  • d’Argis, B., “Droit de la Nature, ou Droit Naturel”. In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 5. Paris, 1755, 131–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • [Anonymous], “Thomasius.” In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 16. Neufchastel, 1765, 284–294.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aristotle, The Politics. Edited by T.J. Saunders. London, 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diderot, D., “Droit Naturel (Morale)”. In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 5. Paris, 1755, 115–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diderot, D., “Autorité Politique”. In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 1. Paris, 1751, 898–901.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diderot, D., “Citoyen”. In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 3. Paris, 1753, 488–489.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diderot, D., [?] “Loi Naturelle.” In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 9. Neufchastel, 1765, 665–666.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diderot, D., Political Writings. Edited by J. Hope Mason and R. Wokler. Cambridge, 1992.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Glafey, A. F., Vollständige Geschichte des Rechts der Vernunfft, worinnen in dieser Wissenschaft ans Licht getretenen Schriften nach ihrem Inhalt und wahren Werth beurtheilet. Leipzig, 1739.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grotius, H., Le Droit de la Guerre et de la Paix, nouvelle Traduction par Jean Barbeyrac. Amsterdam, 1724.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobbes, Th., Leviathan. Edited by R. Tuck. Cambridge, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobbes Th., De Cive. Edited by H. Warrender. Oxford, 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  • d’Holbach, Baron, “Représentans”. In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 14. Neufchastel, 1765, 143–146.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hume, D., “Of the Original Contract.” In D. Hume, Selected Essays. Edited by S. Copley and A. Edgar. Oxford, 1993, 274–292.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutcheson, F., Reflections upon Laughter and Remarks upon the Fable of the Bees. Glasgow, 1750.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutcheson, F., “Inaugural lecture on the social nature of man [1730].” In Francis Hutcheson on human Nature. Edited by Th. Mautner. Cambridge, 1993, 124–147.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hutcheson, F., “De naturali hominum Socialitate. Oratio Inauguralic” Glasgow, 1730 In F Hutcheson Collected Works. Edited by B. Fabian, vol. VII. Hildesheim, 1990, 171–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutcheson, F., An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue. London, 1725.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutcheson, F., An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections. With Illustrations on the Moral Sense. London, 1728.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutcheson, F., A short Introduction to Moral Philosophy. Glasgow, 1747.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutcheson, F., [“On human nature.”] In The Dublin Weekly Journal X. (5 June 1725). Reprinted in F. Hutcheson, Collected Works. Edited by B. Fabian, vol. VII. Hildesheim, 1990, 475–476.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaucourt, L. de, “Premier-Occupant, droit du (Droit naturel).” In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 13. Neufchastel, 1765, 291.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaucourt, L. de, “Sociabilité (Droit nat. & Moral).” In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 15. Neufchastel, 1765, 250–251.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaucourt, L. de, “Egalité Naturelle (Droit nat.).” In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 5. Paris, 1755, 415.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaucourt, L. de, “Liberté”. In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 9. Neufchastel, 1765, 462–472.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaucourt, L. de, “Sociable, Aimable”. In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 15. Neufchastel, 1765, 251.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaucourt, L. de, “Naturelle, loi (Droit naturel)”. In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 11. Neufchastel, 1765, 46–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacourt, L. de, “Gouvernement”. In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 7. Paris, 1757, 788–791.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaucourt, L. de, “Souverains (Droit naturel & politiq.)”. In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 15. Neufchastel, 1765, 423–425.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaucourt, L. de, “Souveraineté”. In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 15. Neufchastel, 1765, 425–426.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mandeville, B., The Fable of the Bees. Edited by P. Harth, London, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mandeville, B., A Letter to Dion, Occasion’d by his Book call’d Alciphron, or The Minute Philosopher. London, 1732.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mandeville, B., Free Thoughts on Religion, the Church, and National Happiness. London, 1729.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pufendorf, S., Les Devoirs de l’Homme et du Citoyen. Traduits du Latin du Baron de Pufendorf par Jean Barbeyrac. London, 1712.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pufendorf, S., On the Duty of Man and Citizen according to Natural Law. Edited by J. Tully and translated by M. Silverthorne. Cambridge, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pufendorf, S., Le Droit de la Nature et des Gens. Traduits du Latin du Baron de Pufendorf par Jean Barbeyrac. Basle, 1732.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rousseau, J.-J., “Economie (politique et morale)”. In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 5. Paris, 1755, 337–349.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rousseau, J.J., Du contrat social. [1762] Paris, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saint-Lambert, “Législateur”. In Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. vol. 9. Neufchastel, 1765, 357–363.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomasius, Ch., Institutiones jurisprudentiae divinae (...). Frankfurt/Leipzig, 1688.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomasius, Ch., “Vorrede von der Historie des Rechts der Natur bis auf Grotium; von der Wichtigkeit des Grotianischen Werks und von dem Nutzen gegenwärtiger Übersetzung.” In Hugo Grotius, De Jure Belli ac Pacis. Edited by W. Schätzel. Tübingen, 1951.

    Google Scholar 

Secondary Sources

  • Campbell, T. D., “Francis Hutcheson: ‘Father’ of the Scottish Enlightenment”. In The Origins and Nature of the Scottish Enlightenment. Edited by R. H. Campbell and A. S. Skinner. Edinburgh, 1982, 167–185.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cant, R. G., “Origins of the Enlightenment in Scottland: the Universities”. In The Origins and Nature of the Scottish Enlightenment. Edited by R. H. Campbell and A. S. Skinner. Edinburgh, 1982, 42–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denzer, H., Moralphilosophie und Naturrecht bei Samuel Pufendorf Eine geistes- und wissenschaftsgeschichtliche Untersuchung zur Geburt des Naturrechts aus der Praktischen Philosophie. München, 1972.

    Google Scholar 

  • Derathé, R., Rousseau et la science politique de son temps. Paris, 1950.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dufour, A., “Die Ecole romande du droit naturel — ihre deutschen Wurzeln”. In Humanismus und Naturrecht in Brandenburg-Preußen. Edited by H. Thieme. Berlin, 1979, 133–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forbes, D., “Natural Law and the Scottish Enlightenment”. In The Origins and Nature of the Scottish Enlightenment. Edited by R. H. Campbell and A. S. Skinner. Edinburgh, 1982, 186–204.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, D., “The Hume-Rousseau Affair: From Private ‘Querelle’ to Public Procès”. In Eighteenth Century Studies 25 (1992): 171–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, D., The Republic of Letters. A cultural history of the French Enlightenment. Ithaca, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, D., Citizens without Sovereignty. Equality and Sociability in French Thought, 1670–1789. Princeton, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haakonssen, K., Natural Law and the Moral Philosophy. From Grotius to the Scottish Enlightenment. Cambridge, 1996.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Haakonssen, K., The Science of a Legislator. The Natural Jurisprudence of David Hume & Adam Smith. Cambridge, 1981.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hasbach, W., Die allgemeinen philosophischen Grundlagen der von Francois Quesnay und Adam Smith begründeten politischen Ökonomie. Leipzig, 1890.

    Google Scholar 

  • Häusser, H., “The Thomasius article in the Encyclopédie”. Studies on Voltaire and the eighteenth century 81 (1971): 177–206.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hochstrasser, T., “Conscience and Reason: The Natural Law Theory of Jean Barbeyrac”. The Historical Journal 36 (1993): 289–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leidhold, W., Ethik und Politik bei Francis Hutcheson. München, 1985.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lough, J., The Encyclopédie. London, 1971.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luig, K., “Zur Verbreitung des Naturrechts in Europa”. Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 60 (1972): 539–557.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mautner, T., “Pufendorf and eighteenth-century Scottish Philosophy”. In Samuel Pufendorf 1632–1982. Edited by K. A. Modëer. Lund, 1986, 120–131.

    Google Scholar 

  • Medick, H., Naturzustand und Naturgeschichte der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft. Göttingen, 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, J., and M. Silverthorne, “Gershom Carmichael and the natural jurisprudence tradition in eighteenth century Scotland”. In Wealth and Virtue. Edited by I. Hont and M. Ignatieff. Cambridge, 1983, 73–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, J., “The two Systems of Francis Hutcheson: On the Origin of the Scottish Enlightenment”. In Studies in the Philosophy of the Scottish Enlightenment. Edited by M. A. Stewart. Oxford, 1990, 37–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, J., “Hume and Hutcheson”. In Hume and Hume’s Connexions. Edited by M. A. Stewart and J. P. Wright. Edinburgh, 1994, 23–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, J., “Natural Sociability of Gershom Carmichael”. In Philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment. Edited by V. Hope. Edinburgh, 1984, 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Othmer, S., Berlin und die Verbreitung des Naturrechts in Europa. Kultur- und sozialgeschichtliche Studien zu Jean Barbeyracs Pufendorf-Übersetzungen und eine Analyse seiner Leserschaft. Berlin, 1970.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oz-Salzberger, F., Translating the Enlightenment: Scottish Civic Discourse in Eighteenth-Century Germany. Oxford, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palladini, F., Samuel Pufendorf Discepolo di Hobbes. Per una reinterpretazione del Giusnaturalismo moderno. Bologna, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palladini, F., “‘Appetitus Societatis’ in Grozio e ‘Socialitas’ in Pufendorf”. In Filosofia Politica X (1996): 61–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinkus, Philip, “Mandeville’s Paradox”. In Mandeville Studies. New Explorations in the Art and Thought of Dr. Bernard Mandeville. Edited by Irwin Primer. Den Haag, 1975, 193–211.

    Google Scholar 

  • Proust, J., “La contribution de Diderot à l’Encyclopédie et les théories du droit naturel”. In Annales historiques de la Révolution française 35 (1963): 257–286.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sauter, H., and E. Loos, (eds.), Paul Thiry Baron d’Holbach. Die gesamte erhaltene Korrespondenz. Stuttgart, 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneewind, J. B., The Invention of Autonomy. A History of Modern Moral Philosophy. Cambridge, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schröder, P., Christian Thomasius zur Einfiihrung. Hamburg, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schröder, P., Naturrecht und absolutistisches Staatsrecht. Eine vergleichende Studie zu Thomas Hobbes und Christian Thomasius. Berlin, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schröder, P., “Naturrecht in der Encyclopédie”. In Internationale Beziehungen in der Frühen Neuzeit. Frankreich und das Alte Reich im europäischen Staatensystem. [FS für Klaus Malettke]. Edited by S. Externbrink and J. Ulbert. Berlin, 2001, 77–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vollhardt, F., (ed.), Christian Thomasius (1655–1728). Neue Forschungen im Kontext der Frühaufklärung. Tübingen, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weis, E., Geschichtsschreibung und Staatsauffassung in der französischen Enzyklopädie. Wiesbaden, 1956.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wokler, R., “The Influence of Diderot on the Political Theory of Rousseau: Two Aspects of a Relationship”. Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century CXXXII (1975): 55–111.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wokler, R., “Rousseau’s Pufendorf: Natural Law and the Foundations of Commercial Society”. History of Political Thought 15 (1994): 373–402.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zurbuchen, S., “Jaucourt, Republicanism, and Toleration”. In New Essays on the Political Thought of the Huguenot of the Refuge. Edited by J. C. Laursen. Leiden/New York/Köln, 1995, 155–169.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Peter Schröder
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. London School of Economics, London, UK

    T. J. Hochstrasser

  2. University College, London, UK

    P. Schröder

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2003 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Schröder, P. (2003). Natural Law and Enlightenment in France and Scotland — A Comparative Perspective. In: Hochstrasser, T.J., Schröder, P. (eds) Early Modern Natural Law Theories. Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Idées / International Archives of the History of Ideas, vol 186. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0391-8_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0391-8_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-6403-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-0391-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation