This collection offers a timely opportunity to re-examine both the coherence of the concept of an 'early Enlightenment', and the specific contribution of natural law theories to its formation. It reassesses the work of major thinkers such as Grotius, Hobbes, Locke, Malebranche, Pufendorf and Thomasius, and evaluates the appeal and importance of the discourse of natural jurisprudence both to those working inside conventional educational and political structures and to those outside.

Inhalt

Acknowledgements. Introduction; T. Hochstrasser, P. Schröder. Before and after Natural Law: Models of Natural Law in Ancient and Modern Times; M. Scattola. Taming The Leviathan - Reading Hobbes In Seventeenth-century Europe; J. Parkin. Malebranche and Natural Law; P. Riley. The Reception of Hugo Grotius's De Jure Belli Ac Pacis in the Early German Enlightenment; F. Grunert. Revolution Principles, Ius Naturae, and Ius Gentium in Early-Enlightenment Scotland: The Contribution of Sir Francis Grant, Lord Cullen (c.1660-1726); C. Jackson. Natural Jurisprudence, Argument from History and Constitutional Struggle in the Early Enlightenment: The Case of Gottlieb Samuel Treuer's Polemic against Absolutism In 1719; R. von Friedeburg. The Love of a Sage or the Command of a Superior: The Natural Law Doctrines of Leibniz and Pufendorf; I. Hunter. Voluntarism and Moral Obligation: Barbeyrac's Defence of Pufendorf Revisited; P. Korkman. The Politics of Self-Preservation: Toleration and Identity in Pufendorf and Locke; M.J. Seidier. De Sympathia et Antipathia Rerum: Natural Law, Religion and the Rejection of Mechanistic Science in the Works of Christian Thomasius; T. Ahnert. 'Decorum' and 'Politesse': Thomasius's Theory of Civilised Society in Comparative Perspective; S. Zurbuchen. Natural Law and Enlightenment in France and Scotland - A Comparative Perspective; P. Schröder. Notes on Contributors. Index.