Related Terms • Enlightenment • Francisco Suarez • John Locke • Jean Jaques Rousseau

Name:
Samuel von Pufendorf
Samuel frieherr von Pufendorf

Dates:
Born: January 8, 1632 in Dorfchemnitz, Saxony
Died: May 4, 1648

Specialization:
Legal Philosophy
Natural Law
Theology

Major Works:
Two Books on the Elements of Universal Jurisprudence (1660)
Elementa Jurisprudentiae Universalis
Of the Law of Nature and Nations (De Jure Naturae et Gentium, 1762)
The Duty of Man and Citizen according to Natural Law (De Jure Naturae et Gentium, 1673)
Of the Power of the Christian Religion in Relation to the Life of a Citizen (1677)

Biography:
Wiriting after the end of the Thirty Years' War, Samuel von Pufendorf was primarily concerned with harmonizing the insights developed during the early stage of the Enlightenment with the traditions of orthodox Christianity. In this he was especially influenced by the natural law philosophy developed by Hugo Grotius and, by extension, the philosophy of Francisco Suarez.

The basic principal from which Pufendorf worked was that of "sociality." According to Pufendorf, the natural condition of humanity is to find and develop stable, social relationships with other humans. This, however, tends to be undermined by the sinful character which humans have possessed since the Fall. The result of this would be anarchy, death, and destruction - if it weren't for the existence of a Natural Law created by God and written in the hearts of humanity so that we would better understand right from wrong and, hence, have a chance at developing the sorts of social relationships we need in order to survive. These divinely mandated Natural Laws are, then, written into national and international laws in order to further keep humans sociable rather than violent.

Pufendorf contrasted natural law with positive law. While the former was mandated by the will of God, the latter was simply a creation of the will of legislators. They might be necessary for society at some particular moment, but it isn't a fundamental necessity for the survivel of society - the law could be different or even not exist, but society would be able to go along anyway.

Because of the destruction and suffering experienced in Germany during the Thirty Years' War, Pufendorf sought also to try and limit the threat which religious differences could pose in the political and social realms. His means for achieving this goal was the then-radical idea that religion should be a private rather than public matter. This privatization of religious faith helped pave the way for the development of deistic philosophy during the Englightenment and as a result Pufendorf was very influential with Enlightenment philosophers like John Locke and Jean Jaques Rousseau.

Also Known As: none

Alternate Spellings: none

Common Misspellings: none

Related Resources:

What is the Philosophy of Science?
The Philosophy of Science is concerned with, obviously enough, science - specifically, how science operates, what the goals of science should be, what relationship science should have with the rest of society, the differences between science and other activities, etc. Everything that happens in science has some relationship with the Philosophy of Science and is predicated upon some philosophical position, even though that may be rarely evident.

What is Philosophy?
What is philosophy? Is there any point in studying philosophy, or is it a useless subject? What are the different branches of philosophy - what's the difference between aestheitcs and ethics? What's the difference between metaphysics and epistemology?