Karma Nabulsi
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198294078
- eISBN:
- 9780191599972
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198294077.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This short introduction describes the approach taken by the book and gives a brief outline of its contents. The story is about wars and military occupation, and the ideas underlying them, and the ...
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This short introduction describes the approach taken by the book and gives a brief outline of its contents. The story is about wars and military occupation, and the ideas underlying them, and the search for these ideas is carried out in the domain of the laws of war by addressing the challenge posed by a particular principle in these laws: the distinction between combatant and non-combatant, a concept which has been recognized as the fundamental principle upon which the entire notion of ‘humanity in warfare’ rests (and has also been acknowledged as the most fragile). The forces underpinning this distinction (more precisely, a distinction between the lawful and unlawful combatant) are explored by presenting three ideologies, each representing a distinct political tradition of war, and each rooted in incommensurable conceptions of the good life; the overall argument of the book is that this incommensurability lay at the source of the failure fully to resolve the problem of distinction between lawful and unlawful combatants between 1874 and 1949. The book makes use of concepts and methods borrowed from a range of intellectual disciplines: political thought, history, and the ‘classical’ traditions of international theory. In the case of the latter, it examines the influence of key thinkers on war, such as Machiavelli, Grotius, and Rousseau, but differs from this orthodox approach in two ways: first, it is not seeking to ascertain the ‘true’ meaning of their philosophies, but rather to find how their political thoughts were interpreted and shaped by later generations; second, the examination is not restricted to abstract theorists and philosophers but is centrally concerned with paradigms constructed by practitioners of war, both professional and civilian.Less
This short introduction describes the approach taken by the book and gives a brief outline of its contents. The story is about wars and military occupation, and the ideas underlying them, and the search for these ideas is carried out in the domain of the laws of war by addressing the challenge posed by a particular principle in these laws: the distinction between combatant and non-combatant, a concept which has been recognized as the fundamental principle upon which the entire notion of ‘humanity in warfare’ rests (and has also been acknowledged as the most fragile). The forces underpinning this distinction (more precisely, a distinction between the lawful and unlawful combatant) are explored by presenting three ideologies, each representing a distinct political tradition of war, and each rooted in incommensurable conceptions of the good life; the overall argument of the book is that this incommensurability lay at the source of the failure fully to resolve the problem of distinction between lawful and unlawful combatants between 1874 and 1949. The book makes use of concepts and methods borrowed from a range of intellectual disciplines: political thought, history, and the ‘classical’ traditions of international theory. In the case of the latter, it examines the influence of key thinkers on war, such as Machiavelli, Grotius, and Rousseau, but differs from this orthodox approach in two ways: first, it is not seeking to ascertain the ‘true’ meaning of their philosophies, but rather to find how their political thoughts were interpreted and shaped by later generations; second, the examination is not restricted to abstract theorists and philosophers but is centrally concerned with paradigms constructed by practitioners of war, both professional and civilian.
Stephen Buckle
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198240945
- eISBN:
- 9780191680304
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198240945.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
In this book, the author provides a historical perspective on the political philosophies of Locke and Hume, arguing that there are continuities in the development of 17th- and 18th-century political ...
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In this book, the author provides a historical perspective on the political philosophies of Locke and Hume, arguing that there are continuities in the development of 17th- and 18th-century political theory that have often gone unrecognized. The book begins with a detailed exposition of Grotius's and Pufendorf's modern natural law theories, focusing on their accounts of the nature of natural law, human sociability, the development of forms of property, and the question of slavery. It then shows that Locke's political theory takes up and develops these basic themes of natural law. The author argues further that, rather than being a departure from this tradition, the moral sense theory of Hutcheson and Hume represents an attempt — which is not entirely successful — to underpin the natural law theory with an adequate moral psychology.Less
In this book, the author provides a historical perspective on the political philosophies of Locke and Hume, arguing that there are continuities in the development of 17th- and 18th-century political theory that have often gone unrecognized. The book begins with a detailed exposition of Grotius's and Pufendorf's modern natural law theories, focusing on their accounts of the nature of natural law, human sociability, the development of forms of property, and the question of slavery. It then shows that Locke's political theory takes up and develops these basic themes of natural law. The author argues further that, rather than being a departure from this tradition, the moral sense theory of Hutcheson and Hume represents an attempt — which is not entirely successful — to underpin the natural law theory with an adequate moral psychology.
Henry Shue
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199267217
- eISBN:
- 9780191601118
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199267219.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Employs historical analysis and philosophical reasoning to argue that sovereignty is inherently limited. The writings of classical theorists such as Grotius and Vattel indicate that aspirations to ...
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Employs historical analysis and philosophical reasoning to argue that sovereignty is inherently limited. The writings of classical theorists such as Grotius and Vattel indicate that aspirations to sovereignty and non-intervention have always been tempered by considerations above and beyond the state. Philosophically, it must be remembered that sovereignty is a right, and the concept of a right makes no sense in the absence of a corresponding duty. The duties that are constitutive of the rights of sovereignty constrain the behaviour of every sovereign belonging to international society. Two conclusions follow. First, there are limits on how states may treat their own citizens within their own territory. Second, other states face specific limits concerning the ill-treatment of residents within the territory of other states that they are free to ignore. In particular, genocide and massive violations of human rights are a matter of concern for all states in contemporary international society.Less
Employs historical analysis and philosophical reasoning to argue that sovereignty is inherently limited. The writings of classical theorists such as Grotius and Vattel indicate that aspirations to sovereignty and non-intervention have always been tempered by considerations above and beyond the state. Philosophically, it must be remembered that sovereignty is a right, and the concept of a right makes no sense in the absence of a corresponding duty. The duties that are constitutive of the rights of sovereignty constrain the behaviour of every sovereign belonging to international society. Two conclusions follow. First, there are limits on how states may treat their own citizens within their own territory. Second, other states face specific limits concerning the ill-treatment of residents within the territory of other states that they are free to ignore. In particular, genocide and massive violations of human rights are a matter of concern for all states in contemporary international society.
Derek Drinkwater
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199273850
- eISBN:
- 9780191602344
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199273855.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Sir Harold Nicolson’s philosophy of international relations is well summed up by the term ‘liberal realism’, a fusion of two key approaches to the resolution of international problems: realism and ...
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Sir Harold Nicolson’s philosophy of international relations is well summed up by the term ‘liberal realism’, a fusion of two key approaches to the resolution of international problems: realism and idealism. It has its origins in ancient Greek and Roman political thought and history, notably, the writings of Aristotle and Thucydides. It also owes much to the contributions to international theory of Grotius and Kant. The liberal realist outlook closely resembles the conception of a via media. Notwithstanding this, it represents one man’s distinctive theorizing (born of his background, education, and experience) about the main issues of international relations.Less
Sir Harold Nicolson’s philosophy of international relations is well summed up by the term ‘liberal realism’, a fusion of two key approaches to the resolution of international problems: realism and idealism. It has its origins in ancient Greek and Roman political thought and history, notably, the writings of Aristotle and Thucydides. It also owes much to the contributions to international theory of Grotius and Kant. The liberal realist outlook closely resembles the conception of a via media. Notwithstanding this, it represents one man’s distinctive theorizing (born of his background, education, and experience) about the main issues of international relations.
BRENT WATERS
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199271962
- eISBN:
- 9780191709883
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199271962.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter assesses the rise of modern liberalism by examining the works of selected theorists and their fellow liberal critics. The first section summarizes the origins and subsequent development ...
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This chapter assesses the rise of modern liberalism by examining the works of selected theorists and their fellow liberal critics. The first section summarizes the origins and subsequent development of modern liberal thinking on the family by examining the works of Hugo Grotius and Johannes Althusius, followed by contractarian (Thomas Hobbes and John Locke) and Kantian revisions. The following two sections contrast the works of leading liberal theorists John Rawls and Susan Moller Okin with critics Peter and Brigitte Berger and Christopher Lasch.Less
This chapter assesses the rise of modern liberalism by examining the works of selected theorists and their fellow liberal critics. The first section summarizes the origins and subsequent development of modern liberal thinking on the family by examining the works of Hugo Grotius and Johannes Althusius, followed by contractarian (Thomas Hobbes and John Locke) and Kantian revisions. The following two sections contrast the works of leading liberal theorists John Rawls and Susan Moller Okin with critics Peter and Brigitte Berger and Christopher Lasch.
Karma Nabulsi
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198294078
- eISBN:
- 9780191599972
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198294077.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This is the second of three chapters on the three traditions of war, and introduces the Groatian tradition, which is viewed as the most dominant and powerful of the traditions presented, and had as ...
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This is the second of three chapters on the three traditions of war, and introduces the Groatian tradition, which is viewed as the most dominant and powerful of the traditions presented, and had as its primary source the Dutch diplomat, lawyer, poet, mathematician, theologian, and historian, Hugo Grotius (1583-1645). The objective of the chapter is to analyse this ideology, and show how its principles came to underpin the later Grotian rationale for the legal distinction between lawful and unlawful combatants. The chapter begins by evoking the inherently enigmatic qualities of Grotius and the numerous (and often conflicting) traditions that he inspired; next the distinct properties of the Grotian tradition of war are set out and seen to consist of a singular legal discourse, a pluralist method, and a strong attachment to order and power. The core components of this ideology are then examined with reference to Grotian conceptions of human nature, government, and liberty; these elements are shown to provide the necessary foundations of Grotius’ conception of war, and in particular to inform the priority accorded to the rights of states and armies over those of civilian populations. The final section of the chapter examines how this ideology informed the practices and beliefs of the founders of the modern laws of war; these ideological changes highlight the adaptability of this tradition as it developed at the end of the nineteenth century, and defined the dominant paradigm of the laws of war.Less
This is the second of three chapters on the three traditions of war, and introduces the Groatian tradition, which is viewed as the most dominant and powerful of the traditions presented, and had as its primary source the Dutch diplomat, lawyer, poet, mathematician, theologian, and historian, Hugo Grotius (1583-1645). The objective of the chapter is to analyse this ideology, and show how its principles came to underpin the later Grotian rationale for the legal distinction between lawful and unlawful combatants. The chapter begins by evoking the inherently enigmatic qualities of Grotius and the numerous (and often conflicting) traditions that he inspired; next the distinct properties of the Grotian tradition of war are set out and seen to consist of a singular legal discourse, a pluralist method, and a strong attachment to order and power. The core components of this ideology are then examined with reference to Grotian conceptions of human nature, government, and liberty; these elements are shown to provide the necessary foundations of Grotius’ conception of war, and in particular to inform the priority accorded to the rights of states and armies over those of civilian populations. The final section of the chapter examines how this ideology informed the practices and beliefs of the founders of the modern laws of war; these ideological changes highlight the adaptability of this tradition as it developed at the end of the nineteenth century, and defined the dominant paradigm of the laws of war.
Karma Nabulsi
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198294078
- eISBN:
- 9780191599972
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198294077.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This is the third of three chapters on the three traditions of war, and introduces the republican tradition, which is represented partially through the writings of Jean Jacques Rousseau, who, along ...
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This is the third of three chapters on the three traditions of war, and introduces the republican tradition, which is represented partially through the writings of Jean Jacques Rousseau, who, along with Pasquale Paoli and Tadeusz Kosciuszko, advanced a unified system of the republican good life and war in conjunction with the laws of war. The way in which this tradition developed in the nineteenth century is depicted. The different sections of the chapter are: The Republican Tradition of War; Republicanism; The Three Founders [Rousseau, Paoli and Kosciuszko]; Rousseau’s Republican War; Rousseau, Paoli and Kosciuszko; The Nature of Man and the State of Nature: Rousseau contra Hobbes and Grotius; The Nature of War; Liberty; Government, Society, and the Republic; Republic; Patriotism and Nationalism; Republican Nationalism; Republican Founders of the Tradition of War: Paoli and Kosciuszko; The Republican Tradition in the Nineteenth Century; The Nineteenth-Century Republican Tradition of War; and The Development of the Republican Tradition of War.Less
This is the third of three chapters on the three traditions of war, and introduces the republican tradition, which is represented partially through the writings of Jean Jacques Rousseau, who, along with Pasquale Paoli and Tadeusz Kosciuszko, advanced a unified system of the republican good life and war in conjunction with the laws of war. The way in which this tradition developed in the nineteenth century is depicted. The different sections of the chapter are: The Republican Tradition of War; Republicanism; The Three Founders [Rousseau, Paoli and Kosciuszko]; Rousseau’s Republican War; Rousseau, Paoli and Kosciuszko; The Nature of Man and the State of Nature: Rousseau contra Hobbes and Grotius; The Nature of War; Liberty; Government, Society, and the Republic; Republic; Patriotism and Nationalism; Republican Nationalism; Republican Founders of the Tradition of War: Paoli and Kosciuszko; The Republican Tradition in the Nineteenth Century; The Nineteenth-Century Republican Tradition of War; and The Development of the Republican Tradition of War.
David Armstrong
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198275282
- eISBN:
- 9780191598739
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198275285.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
‘International society’ is a term that has been used in several different senses, three of which are considered here: ‘universal society’, ‘great community of mankind’ (as elaborated by Grotius), and ...
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‘International society’ is a term that has been used in several different senses, three of which are considered here: ‘universal society’, ‘great community of mankind’ (as elaborated by Grotius), and ‘society of states’ as elaborated by Hedley Bull in Anarchical Society. The approach adopted here draws upon the last of these conceptualizations but sees sovereignty as the fundamental shared norm of the society of states and consent as the basis of the principle of obligation in a society of states. Variants of the ‘universal society’ idea may be found in the Chinese and Roman empires and early Christendom. The ‘great Community’ idea is to be found in natural law doctrines and in the writings of jurists such as Suarez and Vitoria. The notion of a ‘society of states’ and the various institutions (notably ‘balance of power’ and the principle of non‐intervention) are associated with the Peace of Westphalia of 1648.Less
‘International society’ is a term that has been used in several different senses, three of which are considered here: ‘universal society’, ‘great community of mankind’ (as elaborated by Grotius), and ‘society of states’ as elaborated by Hedley Bull in Anarchical Society. The approach adopted here draws upon the last of these conceptualizations but sees sovereignty as the fundamental shared norm of the society of states and consent as the basis of the principle of obligation in a society of states. Variants of the ‘universal society’ idea may be found in the Chinese and Roman empires and early Christendom. The ‘great Community’ idea is to be found in natural law doctrines and in the writings of jurists such as Suarez and Vitoria. The notion of a ‘society of states’ and the various institutions (notably ‘balance of power’ and the principle of non‐intervention) are associated with the Peace of Westphalia of 1648.
Hedley Bull, Benedict Kingsbury, and Adam Roberts (eds)
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198277712
- eISBN:
- 9780191598890
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198277717.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Hugo Grotius (1583–1645), ‘the miracle of Holland’, was famous as a child prodigy, theologian, historian, poet, jurist, Dutch political figure, escaped political prisoner, and finally as Sweden's ...
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Hugo Grotius (1583–1645), ‘the miracle of Holland’, was famous as a child prodigy, theologian, historian, poet, jurist, Dutch political figure, escaped political prisoner, and finally as Sweden's ambassador to France. He is especially known for his major books on international law and practice, Mare Liberum (1609) and De Jure Belli ac Pacis (1625).This book critically reappraises his contributions both to international law (called ‘the law of nations’ in his day) and to international relations. His contributions are examined in relation to his predecessors and in the context of the wars and controversies of his time. This book also assesses the strengths and weaknesses of what is often called a ‘Grotian tradition’ of thought about international law and relations—one which accepts the sovereignty of states, but at the same time stresses the existence of shared values and the necessity of rules.This collection illuminates enduring problems of international relations: the nature of international society and its institutions, the equality of states, the role of natural law, the lawfulness of war (jus ad bellum), the means of pursuing war (jus in bello), collective security, military intervention, the rights of the individual, and the law of the sea.While first and foremost a study in the field of international relations, this is also a significant contribution to the history and theory of international law; and to the history of the early seventeenth century, when the Dutch Republic, and the European states system generally, were emerging in their modern forms, and when the Thirty Years War impressed on Grotius and others the need for restraint in war.Less
Hugo Grotius (1583–1645), ‘the miracle of Holland’, was famous as a child prodigy, theologian, historian, poet, jurist, Dutch political figure, escaped political prisoner, and finally as Sweden's ambassador to France. He is especially known for his major books on international law and practice, Mare Liberum (1609) and De Jure Belli ac Pacis (1625).
This book critically reappraises his contributions both to international law (called ‘the law of nations’ in his day) and to international relations. His contributions are examined in relation to his predecessors and in the context of the wars and controversies of his time. This book also assesses the strengths and weaknesses of what is often called a ‘Grotian tradition’ of thought about international law and relations—one which accepts the sovereignty of states, but at the same time stresses the existence of shared values and the necessity of rules.
This collection illuminates enduring problems of international relations: the nature of international society and its institutions, the equality of states, the role of natural law, the lawfulness of war (jus ad bellum), the means of pursuing war (jus in bello), collective security, military intervention, the rights of the individual, and the law of the sea.
While first and foremost a study in the field of international relations, this is also a significant contribution to the history and theory of international law; and to the history of the early seventeenth century, when the Dutch Republic, and the European states system generally, were emerging in their modern forms, and when the Thirty Years War impressed on Grotius and others the need for restraint in war.
W. E. Butler
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198277712
- eISBN:
- 9780191598890
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198277717.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
From the seventeenth century onwards, Grotius's legal writing was known to Russian scholars and practitioners. By the early twentieth century, his place in the development of international law was ...
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From the seventeenth century onwards, Grotius's legal writing was known to Russian scholars and practitioners. By the early twentieth century, his place in the development of international law was accepted in the Russian textbooks on the subject, even if his actual works were not widely read; and the leading Russian publicist, F.F. Martens, accepted that the publication of De Jure Belli ac Pacis in 1625 had marked the emergence of international law as an ‘autonomous legal science’. However, only in 1956 was a complete translation of this book published in Russia. The Grotius quatercentenary (1983) was commemorated in the Soviet Union by a lengthy assessment of his place in the development of international legal doctrine.Less
From the seventeenth century onwards, Grotius's legal writing was known to Russian scholars and practitioners. By the early twentieth century, his place in the development of international law was accepted in the Russian textbooks on the subject, even if his actual works were not widely read; and the leading Russian publicist, F.F. Martens, accepted that the publication of De Jure Belli ac Pacis in 1625 had marked the emergence of international law as an ‘autonomous legal science’. However, only in 1956 was a complete translation of this book published in Russia. The Grotius quatercentenary (1983) was commemorated in the Soviet Union by a lengthy assessment of his place in the development of international legal doctrine.
James D. Tracy
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199209118
- eISBN:
- 9780191706134
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199209118.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
Historians of republicanism have focussed on states where princely rule was overthrown (15th‐century Florence, 17th‐century England). Yet even in princely realms town magistrates claimed to be part ...
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Historians of republicanism have focussed on states where princely rule was overthrown (15th‐century Florence, 17th‐century England). Yet even in princely realms town magistrates claimed to be part of a underline respublica mixta, a state combining the principles of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. Dutch writers understood the United Provinces as a underline respublica mixta—that is, a stable, balanced constitution. Some embraced the democratic principle, invoking the memory of ancient Athens. Others (partisans of the House of Orange) bemoaned the weakness of the monarchical principle. Still others, like Holland's Hugo Grotius, saw the town oligarchies as forming a proper, aristocratic republic, like Sparta or Venice. Thus understood, the new polity was hardly democratic; but in a Europe dominated by strong monarchies, it was a beacon of republican liberty.Less
Historians of republicanism have focussed on states where princely rule was overthrown (15th‐century Florence, 17th‐century England). Yet even in princely realms town magistrates claimed to be part of a underline respublica mixta, a state combining the principles of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. Dutch writers understood the United Provinces as a underline respublica mixta—that is, a stable, balanced constitution. Some embraced the democratic principle, invoking the memory of ancient Athens. Others (partisans of the House of Orange) bemoaned the weakness of the monarchical principle. Still others, like Holland's Hugo Grotius, saw the town oligarchies as forming a proper, aristocratic republic, like Sparta or Venice. Thus understood, the new polity was hardly democratic; but in a Europe dominated by strong monarchies, it was a beacon of republican liberty.
Mark Weston Janis
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199579341
- eISBN:
- 9780191722653
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199579341.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law, Legal History
This chapter reopens the early 19th-century treatises of James Kent and Henry Wheaton, the first Americans to systematically describe and analyze international law. It remarks on the importance that ...
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This chapter reopens the early 19th-century treatises of James Kent and Henry Wheaton, the first Americans to systematically describe and analyze international law. It remarks on the importance that both authors assigned to the law of nations, and explores why Kent and Wheaton paid such homage to Hugo Grotius and what they saw as the Dutch jurist's Protestant fashioning of what Wheaton called ‘the international law of Christendom’. The international law of Kent and Wheaton was a law necessarily limited to a circle of like-minded states bound by a common tradition of culture, law, and morals, a characterization which departed from Grotius's own universalistic preferences. It is argued that Kent and Wheaton rejected the universalism in the Grotian tradition for two of the very reasons that motivated them to emphasize international law in the first place. First, like the Founding Fathers, they were anxious to use the law of nations to secure the recently won independence and sovereignty of the United States. Second and more originally, Kent and Wheaton sought to answer new positivist critiques of international law by John Austin and to affirm the efficacy of international law in international relations. Finally, it is argued that in so doing, Kent and Wheaton were not guilty of the sins of legalism-moralism sometimes ascribed by George Kennan and other ‘realists’ to American international lawyers in general. Rather Kent and Wheaton presaged a realism about international law that would later characterize some, though not all, Americans who came to practice and profess the discipline.Less
This chapter reopens the early 19th-century treatises of James Kent and Henry Wheaton, the first Americans to systematically describe and analyze international law. It remarks on the importance that both authors assigned to the law of nations, and explores why Kent and Wheaton paid such homage to Hugo Grotius and what they saw as the Dutch jurist's Protestant fashioning of what Wheaton called ‘the international law of Christendom’. The international law of Kent and Wheaton was a law necessarily limited to a circle of like-minded states bound by a common tradition of culture, law, and morals, a characterization which departed from Grotius's own universalistic preferences. It is argued that Kent and Wheaton rejected the universalism in the Grotian tradition for two of the very reasons that motivated them to emphasize international law in the first place. First, like the Founding Fathers, they were anxious to use the law of nations to secure the recently won independence and sovereignty of the United States. Second and more originally, Kent and Wheaton sought to answer new positivist critiques of international law by John Austin and to affirm the efficacy of international law in international relations. Finally, it is argued that in so doing, Kent and Wheaton were not guilty of the sins of legalism-moralism sometimes ascribed by George Kennan and other ‘realists’ to American international lawyers in general. Rather Kent and Wheaton presaged a realism about international law that would later characterize some, though not all, Americans who came to practice and profess the discipline.
Adam J. Kosto
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199651702
- eISBN:
- 9780191741999
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199651702.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter begins by gathering evidence for the medieval understanding of hostageship. How did people react when a king received or granted hostages? Or when a hostage was executed? Stray remarks ...
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This chapter begins by gathering evidence for the medieval understanding of hostageship. How did people react when a king received or granted hostages? Or when a hostage was executed? Stray remarks of chroniclers offer some answers. It also examines more closely the words and deeds of the papacy, which provide the closest thing to an interpretation that was meant to be pan-European. Certain words and deeds of the popes, those that were included in the basic texts of canon law and were much discussed by medieval commentators, prove to be at the root of our modern understanding of hostages. The book closes by following the history of hostageship to the present day, tracing the decline of medieval hostageship in the early modern era, and its replacement by the modern form addressed by the Nuremburg courts and the United Nations.Less
This chapter begins by gathering evidence for the medieval understanding of hostageship. How did people react when a king received or granted hostages? Or when a hostage was executed? Stray remarks of chroniclers offer some answers. It also examines more closely the words and deeds of the papacy, which provide the closest thing to an interpretation that was meant to be pan-European. Certain words and deeds of the popes, those that were included in the basic texts of canon law and were much discussed by medieval commentators, prove to be at the root of our modern understanding of hostages. The book closes by following the history of hostageship to the present day, tracing the decline of medieval hostageship in the early modern era, and its replacement by the modern form addressed by the Nuremburg courts and the United Nations.
Martin Loughlin
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199256853
- eISBN:
- 9780191594267
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199256853.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
Public law emerges as an autonomous field of knowledge in the period between the mid-16th and late 17th centuries. This was a critical period of intense religious conflict in which the character of ...
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Public law emerges as an autonomous field of knowledge in the period between the mid-16th and late 17th centuries. This was a critical period of intense religious conflict in which the character of collective human association was placed in question. The period, marked by the historicization, rationalization, and secularization of political thought, led to the severing of political order from its religious origins and a shift in focus from the sovereign towards the state. The corporate idea of the state became the ground on which an autonomous concept of public law could be built. This chapter explains this transition by reference first to a methodological shift that leads to the promotion of public law as a type of historico-political discourse; secondly to the growth of absolutist thought and the idea of sovereignty; and then to a revolution in natural law thinking leading to the emergence of modern natural right. Sovereignty and right combine to provide the rudiments of the concept of public law.Less
Public law emerges as an autonomous field of knowledge in the period between the mid-16th and late 17th centuries. This was a critical period of intense religious conflict in which the character of collective human association was placed in question. The period, marked by the historicization, rationalization, and secularization of political thought, led to the severing of political order from its religious origins and a shift in focus from the sovereign towards the state. The corporate idea of the state became the ground on which an autonomous concept of public law could be built. This chapter explains this transition by reference first to a methodological shift that leads to the promotion of public law as a type of historico-political discourse; secondly to the growth of absolutist thought and the idea of sovereignty; and then to a revolution in natural law thinking leading to the emergence of modern natural right. Sovereignty and right combine to provide the rudiments of the concept of public law.
Jason P. Rosenblatt
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199286133
- eISBN:
- 9780191713859
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199286133.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
This chapter examines Grotius’s important influence on Selden as well as their mutual influence on Milton. No history of early modern religious toleration is complete without reference to Grotius’s ...
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This chapter examines Grotius’s important influence on Selden as well as their mutual influence on Milton. No history of early modern religious toleration is complete without reference to Grotius’s De Jure Belli ac Pacis and Selden’s De Jure Naturali et Gentium. The implicitly Judaeophilic context of most of their rabbinic references affected not only Milton, but even Grotius’s skeptical editor Jean Barbeyrac as well as the later theorist Samuel Pufendorf. In a tour de force, Selden invents an authentic midrash on Job 31, proving with the help of rabbinic sources, that Job was a righteous Gentile who kept the Noachide laws.Less
This chapter examines Grotius’s important influence on Selden as well as their mutual influence on Milton. No history of early modern religious toleration is complete without reference to Grotius’s De Jure Belli ac Pacis and Selden’s De Jure Naturali et Gentium. The implicitly Judaeophilic context of most of their rabbinic references affected not only Milton, but even Grotius’s skeptical editor Jean Barbeyrac as well as the later theorist Samuel Pufendorf. In a tour de force, Selden invents an authentic midrash on Job 31, proving with the help of rabbinic sources, that Job was a righteous Gentile who kept the Noachide laws.
Jason P. Rosenblatt
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199295937
- eISBN:
- 9780191712210
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199295937.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
Reading Milton's prose chronologically, there is no way to prepare for the differences between the last antiprelatical tract (April 1642) and the first divorce tract (July 1643) — or, for most ...
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Reading Milton's prose chronologically, there is no way to prepare for the differences between the last antiprelatical tract (April 1642) and the first divorce tract (July 1643) — or, for most readers, between Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the Yale edition of Milton's prose. The earlier, antiprelatical treatises are marked by a Pauline absolutism that will not compound with human weakness as an inevitable condition lying within the bounds of divine forgiveness. But beginning with the first divorce tract and extending through the Areopagitica, Milton confronts with compassion a life of mistake and the inseparability of good and evil in this imperfect world. This transformation can be understood in part by a shift in sources: Whereas the antiprelatical tracts apotheosize the spiritual aristocrats of the Reformation who emphasize difference, the divorce tracts draw on natural law theorists such as Hugo Grotius and John Selden, who emphasize commonality.Less
Reading Milton's prose chronologically, there is no way to prepare for the differences between the last antiprelatical tract (April 1642) and the first divorce tract (July 1643) — or, for most readers, between Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the Yale edition of Milton's prose. The earlier, antiprelatical treatises are marked by a Pauline absolutism that will not compound with human weakness as an inevitable condition lying within the bounds of divine forgiveness. But beginning with the first divorce tract and extending through the Areopagitica, Milton confronts with compassion a life of mistake and the inseparability of good and evil in this imperfect world. This transformation can be understood in part by a shift in sources: Whereas the antiprelatical tracts apotheosize the spiritual aristocrats of the Reformation who emphasize difference, the divorce tracts draw on natural law theorists such as Hugo Grotius and John Selden, who emphasize commonality.
J. B. Schneewind
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199563012
- eISBN:
- 9780191721731
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199563012.003.0017
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Commenting on the Fourth Proposition in Kant's ‘Idea for a Universal History’, this chapter discusses earlier ideas of sociability to bring out the originality of Kant's notion of ‘unsocial ...
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Commenting on the Fourth Proposition in Kant's ‘Idea for a Universal History’, this chapter discusses earlier ideas of sociability to bring out the originality of Kant's notion of ‘unsocial sociability’. The Epicureans, the Stoics, Grotius, Hobbes, Pufendorf, Mandeville, Hutcheson, and Rousseau are among those mentioned. Kant sees our unsocial sociability as a spur to individual and social improvement. What makes sociability so difficult for us, Kant thinks, is the radical evil in the human will, which perversely leads us to freely choose what we ought to avoid.Less
Commenting on the Fourth Proposition in Kant's ‘Idea for a Universal History’, this chapter discusses earlier ideas of sociability to bring out the originality of Kant's notion of ‘unsocial sociability’. The Epicureans, the Stoics, Grotius, Hobbes, Pufendorf, Mandeville, Hutcheson, and Rousseau are among those mentioned. Kant sees our unsocial sociability as a spur to individual and social improvement. What makes sociability so difficult for us, Kant thinks, is the radical evil in the human will, which perversely leads us to freely choose what we ought to avoid.
J. B. Schneewind
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199563012
- eISBN:
- 9780191721731
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199563012.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter claims that since Kant modern moral philosophy has generally agreed that everyone is equally able to figure out, without aid, what morality requires; that awareness of moral requirements ...
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This chapter claims that since Kant modern moral philosophy has generally agreed that everyone is equally able to figure out, without aid, what morality requires; that awareness of moral requirements motivates; and that moral requirements override all other requirements. Another claim is that this constellation was new: prior to Kant and later thinkers, these beliefs were not widely accepted. The new view emerged from efforts to show how humans — who are quarrelsome but sociable, can live together — a problem that emerged from the work of Grotius and Hobbes. This problem replaced the ancient question — what is the human good? — as central to moral philosophy. It is suggested that modern moral philosophy, whose beginning is traced here, might also have an end, if new conditions make new issues more important.Less
This chapter claims that since Kant modern moral philosophy has generally agreed that everyone is equally able to figure out, without aid, what morality requires; that awareness of moral requirements motivates; and that moral requirements override all other requirements. Another claim is that this constellation was new: prior to Kant and later thinkers, these beliefs were not widely accepted. The new view emerged from efforts to show how humans — who are quarrelsome but sociable, can live together — a problem that emerged from the work of Grotius and Hobbes. This problem replaced the ancient question — what is the human good? — as central to moral philosophy. It is suggested that modern moral philosophy, whose beginning is traced here, might also have an end, if new conditions make new issues more important.
Richard Tuck
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198227366
- eISBN:
- 9780191678684
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198227366.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas, History of Religion
This chapter explores the overt expression of the religious ideas of Thomas Hobbes. His religious views expressed in Leviathan have been subjected to extensive debate. The discussion argues that, in ...
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This chapter explores the overt expression of the religious ideas of Thomas Hobbes. His religious views expressed in Leviathan have been subjected to extensive debate. The discussion argues that, in his De cive, Hobbes subscribed to the tradition stretching from Italian humanism to the Enlightenment that allied essentially deistic philosophical attitudes with the advocacy of civil religion. Such ideas were quite orthodox, as seen from authors like Hugo Grotius and Henry Hammond, who combined such philosophy with the belief that the Church should have an authoritative role in the interpretation of the revealed truth. This chapter suggests that Hobbes's change in position should be read in the context of the state of affairs in England after the Civil War, when monarchial authority was toppled and many traditional values were brought into question.Less
This chapter explores the overt expression of the religious ideas of Thomas Hobbes. His religious views expressed in Leviathan have been subjected to extensive debate. The discussion argues that, in his De cive, Hobbes subscribed to the tradition stretching from Italian humanism to the Enlightenment that allied essentially deistic philosophical attitudes with the advocacy of civil religion. Such ideas were quite orthodox, as seen from authors like Hugo Grotius and Henry Hammond, who combined such philosophy with the belief that the Church should have an authoritative role in the interpretation of the revealed truth. This chapter suggests that Hobbes's change in position should be read in the context of the state of affairs in England after the Civil War, when monarchial authority was toppled and many traditional values were brought into question.
Richard Tuck
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199248148
- eISBN:
- 9780191697715
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199248148.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
This chapter deals with Hugo Grotius, generally reckoned by writers at the end of the seventeenth century to have created a new science of morality by inventing a new way of talking about ...
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This chapter deals with Hugo Grotius, generally reckoned by writers at the end of the seventeenth century to have created a new science of morality by inventing a new way of talking about international relations. Grotius endorsed for a state the most far-reaching set of rights to make war which were available in the contemporary repertoire. In particular, he accepted a strong version of an international right to punish, and to appropriate territory which was not being used properly by indigenous peoples. His general theory involved attributing comparable rights to private individuals. He equipped the modern liberal rights theories which he had launched with a far-reaching account of what agents can do to one another, both in a state of nature and in the international arena.Less
This chapter deals with Hugo Grotius, generally reckoned by writers at the end of the seventeenth century to have created a new science of morality by inventing a new way of talking about international relations. Grotius endorsed for a state the most far-reaching set of rights to make war which were available in the contemporary repertoire. In particular, he accepted a strong version of an international right to punish, and to appropriate territory which was not being used properly by indigenous peoples. His general theory involved attributing comparable rights to private individuals. He equipped the modern liberal rights theories which he had launched with a far-reaching account of what agents can do to one another, both in a state of nature and in the international arena.
