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17 - Political Writings

from Part III - Grotius as a Man of Letters, Theologian and Political Writer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2021

By
Hans Blom
Edited by
Randall Lesaffer  and
Janne E. Nijman
Randall Lesaffer
Affiliation:
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
Janne E. Nijman
Affiliation:
Universiteit van Amsterdam
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Summary

This chapter presents Grotius’ ars politica that deals with what is useful in practice, different from the ars iuris that deals with issues of justice.Philosophically eclectic, descriptive and non-perfectionist, Grotius’ ars politica is directed at understanding and guiding the organisation of power (potestas) and interest (utile) in human live, on two levels: a. the metalevel of theoretical discussion comparing and integrating different approaches to the topic, and b. the practical level of providing answers to political challenges. As agency is central, so is autonomy, and sovereignty.

Keywords

ars politicapotestasutilitysovereigntychurch-state relationsautonomyconstitutionnaturalismGrotius
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Hugo Grotius , pp. 364 - 384
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

Further Reading

Brett, A.S., ‘Natural right and civil community. The civil philosophy of Hugo Grotius’, The Historical Journal 45 (2002) 31–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eyffinger, A., ‘Introduction’ to ‘De Republica Emendanda; a juvenile tract by Hugo Grotius on the emendation of the Dutch polity’, Grotiana NS 5 (1984) 5–56.Google Scholar
Fukuoka, A., The Sovereign and the Prophets. Spinoza on Grotian and Hobbesian Biblical Argumentation (Leiden, 2018).Google Scholar
Grotiana NS 21–22 (2001–2) Grotius and the Stoa; 26–28 (2005–7) on De jure praedae.Google Scholar
Hont, I., Jealousy of Trade: International Competition and the Nation-State in Historical Perspective (Cambridge, MA, 2006).Google Scholar
Lee, D., Popular Sovereignty in Early Modern Constitutional Thought (Oxford, 2016).Google Scholar
Nelson, E., The Hebrew Republic. Jewish Sources and the Transformation of European Political Thought (Cambridge MA, 2011).Google Scholar
Somos, M., Secularisation and the Leiden Circle (Leiden, 2011).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuck, R., Natural Rights Theories: Their Origin and Development (Cambridge 1979).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuck, R., The Sleeping Sovereign. The Invention of Modern Democracy (Cambridge, 2016).Google Scholar
Van Dam, H.-J., ‘Introduction’ in Van Dam, (ed.), Hugo Grotius, De imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra (Leiden, 2001), 1–151.Google Scholar

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