Abstract

In the 17th century natural and international law stood as the first theory of the modern state. But what did it look like before it was caught up in the history of modern statehood? In the topology of early modern knowledge ius naturae was regarded as a body of established thinking common to all disciplines. Philosophy, theology and jurisprudence were in complete agreement on a number of points: natural law was God-given; since the act of Creation divine commandments had been inscribed into the hearts of men; natural law, the Decalogue, and the demands of ethics were identical. Natural law was nothing other than the eternal order imposed on humankind and the world by God since time began. Can this idea be reconciled with the modern state, its origins in disorder, and its need for the decision-making exercise of will?