Samuel Pufendorf – Natural Law, Moral Entities and the Civil Foundation of Morality

Abstract

This chapter examines some aspects of Samuel Pufendorf’s thinking with regard to its continued relevance for moral and political theory. It argues that to make a fair assessment of Pufendorf, it is pertinent to understand his enterprise in a historical context—with a strong focus on the issues he was addressing and the solutions he proposed. Starting with a closer look at Pufendorf’s place in the “modern” tradition of natural law, and continuing with an attempt to sketch the conditions of political thought after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, this reading ends with a presentation of his theory of moral entities. The reason for highlighting this theory is that Pufendorf here clearly implies that there is no single point from which man can reflect upon himself as a moral subject, and that the foundations of morality, therefore, is not to be found in any philosophical theory, but in the web of relations that makes up civil society.