Lecture summary: At various points throughout this work, Grotius makes reference to a category that he variously calls 'morals' (moralia), 'moral things' (res morales) or 'the matter of morals' (materia moralis). This field of entities is always invoked in conjunction with certain principles of reasoning that shape the scope and application of more strictly legal principles and reasoning. This lecture looks at how 'moral' reasoning intersects with legal reasoning to produce Grotius's distinctive view of the international order. I argue that it is the appeal to 'morals' that allows him to craft a jurisprudence that accommodates the concrete realities of power within and between states while still differentiating itself from politics and reason of state.
Dr Annabel Brett is a Reader in the History of Political Thought, University of Cambridge and Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
Suggested introductory reading material:
The space of politics and the space of war in Hugo Grotius’s De iure belli ac pacis
The Lauterpacht Centre Friday lecture series is kindly supported by Cambridge University Press.
A sandwich lunch is available for all attendees from 12.30 pm in the Old Library.
Numbers are limited so please arrive early to avoid disappointment. Please note the lecture programme is subject to revision without notice.
An audio recording of this lecture is available on the University's Streaming Media Service
A list of all recorded events and lectures at the Lauterpacht Centre can be viewed in on this website in Media/Audio recordings.
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