Of the Law of Nature & Nations: In Five Volumes

Pufendorf provided a comprehensive system of society, law, and government based on a theory of human nature. Eschewing contemporary theological ideas of human perfection and other-worldly beatitude, he founded his natural law on the need for sociability in this world. While paying great respect to Grotius as the founder of a modern, enlightened natural law, Pufendorf criticised his remaining ‘scholasticism’. Similarly, he learned from Hobbes but rejected the reduction of natural law to individual self-interest. Pufendorf wanted to transform natural law by getting rid of its metaphysical foundations, but he retained its function as a moral basis for civil law and the state. OF THE LAW OF NATURE AND NATIONS was Pufendorf’s magnum opus. Despite its enormous size, the work was translated into nine languages. Together with the shorter textbook version, ‘The Whole Duty of Man’ – published in thirteen languages – Pufendorf’s work influenced generations of students across Europe and America.