Background
Samuel Pufendorf was born on January 8, 1632 in Chemnitz.
His father was a Lutheran pastor, and he himself was destined for the ministry.
(On the Duty of Man and Citizen (1673) is Pufendorf's succ...)
On the Duty of Man and Citizen (1673) is Pufendorf's succinct and condensed presentation of the natural law political theory he developed in his monumental classic On the Law of Nature and Nations (1672). His theory was the most influential natural law philosophy of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-centuries. He advanced a compelling reply to Grotius and Hobbes, and in doing so, set the intellectual problems for theorists such as Locke, Hutcheson, Hume, Rousseau, and Smith. In the aftermath of the Thirty Years' War, Pufendorf sets forth a classic justification of the early modern enlightened state and of the proper relations of moral and political subjection to it. This lucid and historically sensitive translation by Michael Silverthorne, (a classicist and a specialist in Roman Law and early modern political thought) is the first since the early twentieth century. James Tully's introduction sets the text in its seventeenth-century context, summarises the main arguments, surveys recent literature on Pufendorf, and shows how Pufendorf transformed natural law theory into an independent discipline of juristic political philosophy which dominated reflection on politics until Kant.
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( Samuel Pufendorfs The Whole Duty of Man, According to ...)
Samuel Pufendorfs The Whole Duty of Man, According to the Law of Nature suggested a purely conventional basis for natural law. Rejecting scholasticisms metaphysical theories, Pufendorf found the source of natural law in humanitys need to cultivate sociability. Samuel Pufendorf (16321694) taught natural law and was court historian in both Germany and Sweden. 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. Please note: This title is available as an ebook for purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iTunes.
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( Although The Present State of Germany was first made av...)
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). The editor of this volume, Michael J. Seidler, describes this work of Pufendorf as an account of German constitutional law detailing the historical relations between the Emperor and the Estates as well as an examination of the legitimating foundations of Imperial authority, a general analysis of the nature and requirements of political sovereignty, and a reconceptualization of the different forms of political order. . . . Its central distinction between so-called regular and irregular states, resting on the question of the locus of sovereignty, demotes the traditional political categories into mere administrative possibilities and thereby creates a more general problematic of freedom and authority with which we are still wrestling today. That is, it raises, at a very early stage in the contractarian tradition which we have inherited, the basic question of how effective political unity is compatible with competing values of diversity and individual liberty. Samuel Pufendorf (16321694) 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. Edmund Bohun (16451699) was an English press license official and political writer who ended up as chief justice of South Carolina. Michael J. Seidler is Professor of Philosophy at Western Kentucky University. Knud Haakonssen is Professor of Intellectual History at the University of Sussex, England.
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(John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Denis Diderot all ...)
John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Denis Diderot all recommended Pufendorf's inclusion in law curricula, and he greatly influenced Blackstone and Montesquieu. By way of these thinkers, Pufendorf was familiar to American political writers such as Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson. His political concepts are part of the cultural background of the American Revolution. Pufendorf is seen as an important precursor of Enlightenment in Germany. He was involved in constant quarrels with clerical circles and frequently had to defend himself against accusations of heresy. Note: This book originally published in 1682 has been converted from its original format and may contain minor conversion defects
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( Two Books of the Elements of Universal Jurisprudence wa...)
Two Books of the Elements of Universal Jurisprudence was Pufendorfs 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 Pufendorfs 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 states 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 (16321694) 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 (18801945) 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.
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Samuel Pufendorf was born on January 8, 1632 in Chemnitz.
His father was a Lutheran pastor, and he himself was destined for the ministry.
He began his higher education with the study of theology at the University of Leipzig.
His dislike of theological studies caused him to change to legal studies, which he pursued at the University of Jena.
He went so far as to quit Leipzig altogether, and betook himself to Jena, where he formed an intimate friendship with Erhard Weigel the mathematician, whose influence helped to develop his remarkable independence of character.
At this time Charles Gustavus was endeavouring to impose upon Denmark a burdensome alliance, and in the middle of the negotiations he brutally opened hostilities.
The anger of the Danes was turned against the envoys of the Swedish sovereign; Coyet, it is true, succeeded in escaping, but the second minister, Steno Bjelke, and the whole suite were arrested and thrown into prison.
Pufendorf shared this misfortune, and was subjected to a strict captivity of eight months' duration.
He apparently used this time to reflect on his previous legal studies, for, after his release, he went to Leiden and published in 1660 a complete system of universal law in his Elementorum jurisprudentiae universalis libri duo (The Two Books of the Elements of Universal Jurisprudence).
He mentally constructed a system of universal law; and, when, at the end of his captivity, he accompanied his pupils, the sons of Coyet, to the university of Leiden, he was enabled to publish, in 1661, the fruits of his reflections under the title of Elementa jurisprudenliae universalis, libri duo.
In 1667 he wrote, with the assent of the elector palatine, a tract, De statu imperii gsrmanici, liber unus.
The pamphlet made a great sensation.
Inimical, like Pufendorf, to the house of Austria, Chemnitz had gone so far as to make an appeal to France and Sweden.
Pufendorf, on the contrary, rejected all idea of foreign intervention, and advocated that of national initiative.
In 1670 Pufendorf was called to the university of Lund.
His sojourn there was fruitful.
In 1672 appeared the De jure naturae et gentium, libri octo, and in 1675 a resume of it under the title of De officio hominis et civis. In the De jure naturae et gentium Pufendorf took up in great measure the theories of Grotius and sought to complete them by means of the doctrines of Hobbes and of his own ideas.
His first important point was that natural law does not extend beyond the limits of this life and that it confines itself to regulating external acts.
But this peace is feeble and insecure, and if something else does not come to its aid it can do very little for the preservation of mankind.
In this a priori conception, in which he scarcely gives proof of historical insight, he shows himself as one of the precursors of J. J. Rousseau and of the Contrat social.
To this new period belong Einleitung zur Historie der vornehmsten Reiche und Staaten, also the Commentarium de rebus suecicis, libri XXVI, ab expeditions Gustavi Adolphi regis in Germaniam ad abdicationem usque Christinae and De rebus a Carolo Gustavo gestis.
In his De habitu religionis christianae ad vitam civilem he traces the limits between ecclesiastical and civil power.
This work propounded for the first time the so-called " collegial " theory of church government (Kollegialsystem), which, developed later by the learned Lutheran theologian Christoph Mathaus Pfaff (1686 - 1760), formed the basis of the relations of church and state in Germany and more especially in Prussia. This theory makes a fundamental distinction between the supreme jurisdiction in ecclesiastical matters (Kirchenh. oh. eit or jus circa sacra), which it conceives as inherent in the power of the state in respect of every religious communion, and the ecclesiastical power (Kirchengewalt or jus in sacra) inherent in the church, but in some cases vested in the state by tacit or expressed consent of the ecclesiastical body.
The theory was of importance because, by distinguishing church from state while preserving the essential supremacy of the latter, it prepared the way for the principle of toleration.
He accepted the call, but he had no sooner arrived than the elector died.
The king of Sweden did not on this account cease to testify his goodwill towards Pufendorf, and in 1694 he created him a baron.
(On the Duty of Man and Citizen (1673) is Pufendorf's succ...)
( Although The Present State of Germany was first made av...)
(John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Denis Diderot all ...)
( Samuel Pufendorfs The Whole Duty of Man, According to ...)
( Two Books of the Elements of Universal Jurisprudence wa...)
Pufendorf married Katharina Elisabeth von Palthen, the widow of a colleague, in 1665.