Hugo Grotius
Dutch jurist and thinker who grounds natural law in the sociable, rational nature of man, valid even without appeal to God.
Life
Dutch jurist, diplomat and theologian (Delft 1583 - Rostock 1645). Imprisoned in 1619 for political and religious reasons, he escaped in 1621 and lived in exile, mostly in Paris, where he became Sweden's ambassador (1634-1645). Written during the Thirty Years' War, his treatise On the Law of War and Peace (1625) looks for rules common to all peoples and grounds natural law in the sociable, rational nature of man. He is regarded as one of the founders of modern international law.
Main works
A treatise that looks for the rules common to war and peace, grounding them in natural law.
A short work arguing that the high seas belong to all and cannot be appropriated by any nation.
A handbook of arguments for Christianity, first written in Dutch verse in prison, then published in Latin in exile.
In his own words
« Just as even God cannot cause that two times two should not make four, so He cannot cause that that which is intrinsically evil be not evil. »
Sicut ergo, ut bis duo non sint quatuor, ne a Deo quidem potest effici, ita ne hoc quidem, ut, quod intrinseca ratione malum est, malum non sit.
« What we have been saying would have a degree of validity even if we should concede that which cannot be conceded without the utmost wickedness, that there is no God, or that the affairs of men are of no concern to Him. »
Et haec quidem, quae jam diximus, locum aliquem haberent, etiamsi daremus, quod sine summo scelere dari nequit, non esse Deum, aut non curari ab eo negotia humana.
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceHe affirms that God exists, made us, and is owed obedience, while saying natural law would keep some validity even if one supposed otherwise.
Grotius, De jure belli ac pacis (1625), Prolegomena 11-12
The foundation of right is human nature, a sociable and rational being; he is neither a pure consequentialist nor a pure deontologist, and also admits a second source of law in God's will.
Grotius, De jure belli ac pacis (1625), Prolegomena 6-12
Natural law is unchangeable, even by God, as the truths of arithmetic are; what is intrinsically evil cannot be made not evil.
Grotius, De jure belli ac pacis (1625), I, 1, 10, 5
Humans have by nature an impelling desire for society and the faculty of judging by general principles, which is the root of right.
Grotius, De jure belli ac pacis (1625), Prolegomena 6-8