Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T12:39:54.596Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - German natural law

from Part III - Natural jurisprudence and the science of legislation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

Mark Goldie  and
Robert Wokler
By
Knud Haakonssen
Mark Goldie
Affiliation:
Churchill College, Cambridge
Robert Wokler
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Get access

Summary

The reception of modern natural law

In order to appreciate the role of natural law in the eighteenth century, it is important to note that most Protestant Europeans saw it as a modern phenomenon. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century thinkers were well aware that natural law was prominent in both ancient and medieval thought, but in their eyes it acquired a new role with the division of Christianity and the emergence of modern statehood. The concern of modern natural law was to find a basis for moral life that, without conflicting with the tenets of Christianity, was neutral with respect to confessional religion. Natural law was thus central to one of the defining debates of the Enlightenment, namely whether and to what extent the cognitive, including moral, powers of humanity were adequate to the conduct of life in this world. While all the sciences were invoked to this purpose, in discussions of the foundation, nature, and extent of natural law, that central issue was particularly explicit.

The debate ran deep in every Protestant community – Reformed, Lutheran, and episcopalian – for at issue was the basis for the social world. Natural law’s replacement of revealed religion with natural religion led to a highly ambivalent view of morality and its institutional forms, ranging from the family and the economy to the state, as either the creation or the expression of natural man. Not least, the idea of religion as both a common bond and a shield between ruler and ruled was called into question, as was the status of the church.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Political Thought , pp. 249 - 290
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bachmann, H. M. (1977). Die naturrechtliche Staatslehre Christian Wolffs (Berlin).Google Scholar
Barbeyrac, Jean (1709). Traité du jeu, 2 vols. (Amsterdam).Google Scholar
Barbeyrac, Jean (1728). Traité de la morale des pères de l’Eglise (Amsterdam).Google Scholar
Barbeyrac, Jean (1996). Ecrits de droit et de morale, ed. Goyard-Fabre, S. (Paris).Google Scholar
Barbeyrac, Jean (2003). ‘Two Discourses and a Commentary’, in Pufendorf, 2003.Google Scholar
Barnard, F. M. (1965b). ‘Christian Thomasius: Enlightenment and Bureaucracy’, American Political Science Review, 59CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnard, F. M. (1971). ‘The Practical Philosophy of Christian Thomasius’, Journal of the History of Ideas, 32CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnard, F. M. (1988b). ‘Fraternity and Citizenship: Two Ethics of Mutuality in Christian Thomasius’, Review of Politics, 50CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batscha, Z., ed. (1976). Materialien zu Kants Rechtsphilosophie (Frankfurt).Google Scholar
Bianco, B. (1989). ‘Freiheit gegen Fatalismus: Zu Joachim Langes Kritik an Wolff’, in Hinske, 1989.Google Scholar
Bienert, W. (1934). Der Anbruch der christlichen deutschen Neuzeit Dargestellt an Wissenschaft und Glauben des Christian Thomasius (Halle).Google Scholar
Bloch, E. (1961). Christian Thomasius: Ein deutscher Gelehrter ohne Misere (Frankfurt). 1st publ. Berlin, 1953.Google Scholar
Brandt, R., ed. (1974). Eigentumstheorien von Grotius bis Kant (Stuttgart).Google Scholar
Brandt, R. (1982a). ‘Das Erlabubnisgesetz, oder: Vernunft und Geschichte in Kants Rechtslehre’, in Brandt, 1982b.Google Scholar
Brühlmeier, D. (1995). ‘Natural Law and Early Economic Thought in Barbeyrac, Burlamaqui and Vattel’, in Laursen, 1995.Google Scholar
Burlamaqui, Jean Jacques (1747). Principes du droit naturel (Geneva).Google Scholar
Burlamaqui, Jean Jacques (1751). Principes du droit politique (Amsterdam).Google Scholar
Burlamaqui, Jean Jacques (1766–8). Principes du droit de la nature et des gens, 8 vols. (Yverdon).Google Scholar
Burlamaqui, Jean Jacques (1775). Elémens du droit naturel (Lausanne).Google Scholar
Burlamaqui, Jean Jacques (2006). The Principles of Natural and Politic Law, ed. Korkman, P. (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund).Google Scholar
Busch, W. (1979). Die Entstehung der kritischen Rechtsphilosophie Kants, 1762–1780 (Berlin).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carmichael, Gershom (1724). S. Puffendorfii De Officio hominis et civis, juxta legem naturalem. Supplementis et observationibus in academicae juventutis usum auxit et illustravit Gerschomus Carmichael (Edinburgh). 1st publ. 1718.Google Scholar
Carmichael, Gershom (2002). Natural Rights on the Threshold of the Scottish Enlightenment: The Writings of Gershom Carmichael, ed. Moore, J. and Silverthorne, M. (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund).Google Scholar
Casula, M. (1979). ‘Die Beziehungen Wolff-Thomas-Carbo in der Metaphysica latina: Zur Quellengeschichte der Thomas-Rezeption bei Christian Wolff’, Studia Leibnitiana, 11.Google Scholar
Conrad, H. (1961). Rechtsstaatliche Bestrebungen im Absolutismus Preuβens und Österreichs am Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts (Cologne).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conrad, , Hermann, , ed. (1964). Recht und Verfassung des Reichs in der Zeit Maria Theresias: Die Vorträge zum Unterricht des Erzherzogs Joseph im Natur- und Völkerrecht sowie im Deutschen Staats- und Lehnsrecht (Cologne).Google Scholar
Corr, C. A. (1975). ‘Christian Wolff and Leibniz’, Journal of the History of Ideas, 36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deggau, H. G. (1983). Die Aporien der Rechtslehre Kants (Stuttgart).Google Scholar
Derathé, R. (1950). Jean-Jacques Rousseau et la science politique de son temps (Paris). Later edns 1970, 1979, 1988.Google Scholar
Dreier, R. (1986). Rechtsbegriff und Rechtsidee: Kants Rechtsbegriff und seine Bedeutung für die gegenwärtige Diskussion (Frankfurt).Google Scholar
Dufour, A. (1976). Le Mariage dans l’Ecole romande du droit naturel au XVIIIe siècle (Geneva).Google Scholar
Ebbinghaus, J. (1986). Sittlichkeit und Recht: Praktische Philosophie, 1929–1954 (Bonn).Google Scholar
Erb, Peter C., ed. (1983). Pietists: Selected Writings (New York).Google Scholar
Fabricius, K. (1920). Kongeloven: Dens tilblivelse og plads i samtidens natur- og arveretlige udvikling (Copenhagan).Google Scholar
Fleischmann, M. (1931). Christian Thomasius: Leben und Lebenswerk (Halle).Google Scholar
Gagnebin, B. (1944). Burlamaqui et le droit naturel (Geneva).Google Scholar
Gagnér, S. (1960). Studien zur Ideengeschichte der Gesetzgebung (Stockholm).Google Scholar
Gawthrop, R. L. (1993). Pietism and the Making of Eighteenth-Century Prussia (Cambridge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gierke, O. (1934). Natural Law and the Theory of Society, 1500–1800, trans. Barker, E., 2 vols. (Cambridge). 1st publ. 1913.Google Scholar
Gordon, D. (1994). Citizens without Sovereignty: Equality and Sociability in French Thought, 1670–1789 (Princeton).Google Scholar
Goyard-Fabre, S. (1996a). La Philosophie du droit de Kant (Paris).Google Scholar
Goyard-Fabre, S. (1996b). ‘Introduction’ to Barbeyrac, J., Ecrits de droit et de morale (Paris).Google Scholar
Gregor, M. (1963). Laws of Freedom: A Study of Kant’s Method of Applying the Categorical Imperative in the Metaphysik der Sitten (New York).Google Scholar
Grunert, F. (2000). Normbegründung und politische Legitimität: Zur Rechts- und Staatsphilosophie der deutschen Frühaufklärung (Tübingen).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guyer, P. (2000). Kant on Freedom, Law, and Happiness (Cambridge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haakonssen, K. (1989). ‘Natural Jurisprudence in the Scottish Enlightenment’, in Mac-Cormick, and Bankowski, 1989.Google Scholar
Haakonssen, K. (1996a). Natural Law and Moral Philosophy: From Grotius to the Scottish Enlightenment (Cambridge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haakonssen, K. (2004). ‘Protestant Natural Law Theory: A General Interpretation’, in Brender, and Krasnoff, 2004.Google Scholar
Hartung, G. (1998). Die Naturrechtsdebatte: Geschichte der Obligatio vom 17. bis 20. Jahrhundert (Freiburg).Google Scholar
Harvey, R. F. (1937). Jean Jacques Burlamaqui: A Liberal Tradition in American Constitutionalism (Chapel Hill, NC).Google Scholar
Hinrichs, C. (1971). Preussentum und Pietismus (Göttingen).Google Scholar
Hinrichs, H. F. W. (1848–52). Geschichte der Rechts- und Staatsprinzipien seit der Reformation bis auf die Gegenwart in historisch-philosophischer Entwicklung, 3 vols. Repr. Aalen, , 1962.Google Scholar
Hinske, N., ed. (1989). Halle: Aufklärung und Pietismus (Heidelberg).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hochstrasser, T. J. (1993). ‘Conscience and Reason: The Natural Law Theory of Jean Barbeyrac’, Historical Journal, 36CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hochstrasser, T. J. (1995). ‘The Claims of Conscience: Natural Law Theory, Obligation and Resistance in the Huguenot Diaspora’, in Laursen, 1995.Google Scholar
Hochstrasser, T. J. (2000). Natural Law Theories in the Early Enlightenment (Cambridge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holzhey, H., and Zurbuchen, S. (1993). ‘Die Schweiz zwischen deutscher und französischer Aufklärung’, in Schneiders, 1993.Google Scholar
Hope, N. (1995). German and Scandinavian Protestantism, 1700–1918 (Oxford).Google Scholar
Hunter, I. (2001). Rival Enlightenments: Civil and Metaphysical Philosophy in Early-Modern Germany (Cambridge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, I., and Saunders, D., eds. (2002). Natural Law and Civil Sovereignty: Moral Right and State Authority in Early Modern Political Thought (Basingstoke).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ilting, K. H. (1983). Naturrecht und Sittlichkeit (Stuttgart).Google Scholar
Ingrao, C.W. (1987). The Hessian Mercenary State: Ideas, Institutions and Reform under Frederick II, 1760–1787 (Cambridge).Google Scholar
Janssen, C. J. H. (1987). ‘Over de 18e eeuwse docenten naturrecht aan Nederlandse universiteiten en de dor hen gebruikte leerboeken’, Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis, 55Google Scholar
Johnson, H. C. (1975). Frederick the Great and his Officials (New Haven).Google Scholar
Jorgensen, C. D., ed. (1886). Kongeloven og dens forhistorie (Copenhagen). Repr. 1973.Google Scholar
Jouannet, E. (1998). Emer de Vattel et l’émergence doctrinale du droit international classique (Paris).Google Scholar
Kant, Immanuel (1784). ‘Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?’, (Berlinische Monatsschrift 4). In Kant 1900–, VIII, Trans. in Kant, 1996a.Google Scholar
Kant, Immanuel (1900–). Kant’s gesammelte Schriften, ed. Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Berlin).Google Scholar
Kaulbach, F. (1982). Studien zur späten Rechtsphilosophie Kants und ihrer transzendentalen Methode (Würzburg).Google Scholar
Kersting, W. (1993). Wohlgeordnete Freiheit: Immanuel Kants Rechts- und Staatsphilosophie, 2nd edn (Frankfurt). 1st publ. 1984 (Berlin).Google Scholar
Klein, Ernst Ferdinand (1977). ‘Über Denk- und Druckfreiheit’, in Hinske and Albrecht 1977. 1st publ. 1784.Google Scholar
Kleinheyer, G. (1959). Staat und Bürger im Recht: Die Vorträge des Carl Gottlieb Svarez vor dem preuβischen Kronprinzen, 1791–1792 (Bonn).Google Scholar
Klippel, D. (1987). ‘Naturrecht als politische Theorie’, in Bödeker, and Herrmann, 1987.Google Scholar
Kramer, G. (1880–2). August Hermann Francke, 2 vols. (Halle).Google Scholar
Kühl, K. (1984). Eigentumsordnung als Freiheitsordnung: Zur Aktualität der Kantischen Rechtsund Eigentumslehre (Freiburg).Google Scholar
Kühnel, M. (2001). Das politische Denken von Christian Thomasius (Berlin).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Küsters, G. W. (1988). Kants Rechtsphilosophie (Darmstadt).Google Scholar
Larrère, C. (1992). L’Invention de l’économie au XVIIIe siècle: du droit naturel à la physiocratie (Paris).Google Scholar
Lieberwirth, R. (1955). Christian Thomasius (Weimar).Google Scholar
Ludwig, B. (1988). Kants Rechtslehre (Hamburg).Google Scholar
Luig, K. (1972). ‘Zur Verbreitung des Naturrechts in Europa’, Tidjschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis, 40.Google Scholar
Lutterbeck, K. G. (2002). Staat und Gesellschaft bei Christian Thomasius und Christian Wolff (Stuttgart).Google Scholar
Maus, I. (1992). Zur Aufklärung der Demokratietheorie: Rechts- und demokratietheoretische Überlegungen im Anschluβ an Kant (Frankfurt).Google Scholar
Mautner, T. (1996). ‘Carmichael and Barbeyrac: The Lost Correspondence’, in Palladini, and Hartung, 1996.Google Scholar
Meylan, P. (1937). Jean Barbeyrac (1674–1744) et les débuts de l’enseignement du droit dans l’ancienne Académie de Lausanne (Lausanne).Google Scholar
Moore, J. (1988). ‘Natural Law and the Pyrrhonian Controversy’, in Jones, P., ed., 1988.Google Scholar
Moore, J., and Silverthorne, M. (1983). ‘Gershom Carmichael and the Natural Jurisprudence Tradition in Eighteenth-Century Scotland’, in Hont, and Ignatieff, 1983a.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, J., and Silverthorne, M. (1984). ‘Natural Sociability and Natural Rights in the Moral Philosophy of Gershom Carmichael’, in Hope, 1984.Google Scholar
Mulholland, L. A. (1990). Kant’s System of Rights (New York).Google Scholar
Murphy, J. G. (1970). Kant: The Philosophy of Right (London).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Othmer, S. C. (1970). Berlin und die Verbreitung des Naturrechts in Europa (Berlin).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, C. (1988). ‘Das schwedische Gesetzbuch von 1734’, in Mohnhaupt, 1988.Google Scholar
Picardi, N., and Giuliani, A., eds. (1996). Codex legum Svecicarum (1734) (Milan).Google Scholar
Ratschow, C. H. (1964–71). Lutherische Dogmatik zwischen Reformation und Aufklärung, 2 vols. (Gütersloh).Google Scholar
Reibstein, E. (1962). ‘Allgemeine Staatsrecht und Völkerrecht bei C. G. Svarez’, Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht, 22.Google Scholar
Ritter, C. (1971) Der Rechtsgedanke Kants nach den frühen Quellen (Frankfurt).Google Scholar
Rosen, A. D. (1993) Kant’s Theory of Justice (Ithaca, NY).Google Scholar
Rosenblatt, H. (1997) Rousseau and Geneva: From the First Discourse to the Social Contract, 1749–1762 (Cambridge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rousseau, Jean Jacques (1984). A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, ed. and trans. Cranston, M. (London: Penguin). 1st publ. 1755.Google Scholar
Ruddy, F. S. (1975) International Law in the Enlightenment: The Background of Emmerich de Vattel’s Le droit des gens (New York).Google Scholar
Ruello, F. (1963) ‘Christian Wolff et la scolastique’, Traditio, 19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rüping, H. (1968). Die Naturrechtslehre des Christian Thomasius (Bonn).Google Scholar
Schneewind, Jerome B., ed. (1990). Moral Philosophy from Montaigne to Kant: An Anthology, 2 vols. (Cambridge).Google Scholar
Schneewind, J. B. (1993) ‘Kant and Natural Law Ethics’, Ethics, 104.Google Scholar
Schneewind, J. B. (1998) The Invention of Autonomy: A History of Modern Moral Philosophy (Cambridge).Google Scholar
Schneiders, W. (1971) Naturrecht und Liebesethik (Hildesheim).Google Scholar
Schneiders, W., ed. (1983). Christian Wolff, 1679–1754: Interpretationen zu seiner Philosophie und deren Wirkung (Hamburg).Google Scholar
Schneiders, W. ed. (1989). Christian Thomasius, 1655–1728: Interpretationen zu Werk und Wirkung (Hamburg).Google Scholar
Schröder, P. (2001). Naturrecht und absolutisches Staatsrecht: Eine vergleichende Studie zu Thomas Hobbes und Christian Thomasius (Berlin).Google Scholar
Schröer, C. (1988). Naturbegriff und Moralbegründung: Die Grundlegung der Ethik bei Christian Wolff und deren Kritik durch Immanuel Kant (Stuttgart).Google Scholar
Schwaiger, C. (1995) Das Problem des Glücks im Denken Christian Wolffs (Stuttgart).Google Scholar
Skuncke, M. C. (1992). ‘Un prince suédois auteur français: l’éducation de Gustave III, 1756–1762’, Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 296.Google Scholar
Sparn, W. (1976). Wiederkehr der Metaphysik: Die ontologische Frage in der lutherischen Theologie des frühen 17. Jahrhunderts (Stuttgart).Google Scholar
Stipperger, E. (1984). Freiheit und Institution bei Christian Wolff (1679–1754) (Frankfurt).Google Scholar
Stoeffler, F. E. (1973). German Pietism during the Eighteenth Century (Leiden).Google Scholar
Stolleis, M. (1988). Geschichte des öffentlichen Rechts in Deutschland, I (Munich).Google Scholar
Stroup, J. (1984). The Struggle for Identity in the Clerical Estate: Northwest German Protestant Opposition to Absolutist Policy in the Eighteenth Century (Leiden).Google Scholar
Svarez, Carl Gottlieb, (1960). Vorträge über Recht und Staat, ed. Conrad, H. and Kleinheyer, G. (Cologne). Lectures 1791–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szabo, F. A. J. (1994). Kaunitz and Enlightened Absolutism, 1753–1780 (Cambridge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tarello, G. (1976). Storia della cultura giuridica moderna, I: Assolutismo e codificazione del diritto (Bologna).Google Scholar
Thieme, H. (1954). Das Naturrecht und die europäische Privatrechtsgeschichte (Basle).Google Scholar
Thomann, M. (1977). ‘Christian Wolff’, in Stolleis, 1977.Google Scholar
Tuck, R. (1999). The Rights of War and Peace: Political Thought and the International Order from Grotius to Kant (New York).Google Scholar
Vattel, Emerich, (1758). Le Droit des gens, ou principes de la loi naturelle appliqués à la conduite et aux affaires des nations et des souverains, 3 vols. (Leiden). Facs. repr. with English trans. by Fenwick, C. G., The Law of Nations or the Principles of Natural Law Applied to the Conduct and to the Affairs of Nations and Sovereigns, 3 vols. (Washington, 1916; New York, 1964).Google Scholar
Vollhardt, F., ed. (1997). Christian Thomasius (1655–1728) (Tübingen).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vollhardt, F., ed. (2001). Selbsliebe und Geselligkeit: Untersuchungen zum Verhältnis von naturrechtlichem Denken und moraldidaktischer Literatur im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert (Tübingen).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, W. (1986a). ‘Einführung’, in Wagner, 1986c.Google Scholar
Wagner, W. (1986b). ‘Zur Vorgeschichte der Kodifikation von 1734’, in Wagner, 1986.Google Scholar
Ward, W. R. (1992). The Protestant Evangelical Awakening (Cambridge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weill, H. N. (1961). Frederick the Great and Samuel von Cocceji (Madison).Google Scholar
Whelan, F. G. (1988). ‘Vattel’s Doctrine of the State’, History of Political Thought, 9Google Scholar
Wieacker, F. (1952). Privatrechtsgeschichte der Neuzeit (Göttingen).Google Scholar
Winiger, B. (1992). Das rationale Pflichtenrecht Christian Wolffs (Berlin).Google Scholar
Wokler, R. (1988a). ‘Natural Law and the Meaning of Rousseau’s Political Thought’, in Barber, and Courtney, 1988.Google Scholar
Wokler, R. (1994a). ‘Rousseau’s Pufendorf’, History of Political Thought, 15Google Scholar
Wolf, E. (1963). Groβe Rechtsdenker der deutschen Geistesgeschichte, 4th edn (Tübingen).Google Scholar
Wolff, Christian (1772). Institutions du droit de la nature et des gens, trans. and ed. Luzac, E. (Leiden).Google Scholar
Zurbuchen, S. (1991). Naturrecht und natürliche Religion: Zur Geschichte des Toleranzproblems von Samuel Pufendorf bis Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Würzburg).Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×