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2 - Understanding the Self

Hugo Grotius and the Birth of the Secular

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2022

Mark Douglas
Affiliation:
Columbia Theological Seminary
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Summary

In On the Rights of War and Peace, Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) pushes natural law thinking into an international law form, shaping not only the origins of international law but a particular vision of the nation-state as the primary political form of modernity. Along the way, he frames the conditions through which just war thinking will move from being a tradition into becoming a theory (with its preoccupying focus on jus ad bellum and jus in bello criteria) and the modern self will become the primary political agent. One implication of his revolutionary thought is that it gives license to colonizing powers to use military force to acquire and defend property, especially the resources of the new world, thereby shaping modern understandings of the natural world as composed of things that can become owned. Another is that it makes refugees all-but-invisible, which will create increasingly acute problems as climate change and violence, together, will dramatically increase the number of displaced persons in the world.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Understanding the Self
  • Mark Douglas
  • Book: Modernity, the Environment, and the Christian Just War Tradition
  • Online publication: 05 May 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009106610.003
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  • Understanding the Self
  • Mark Douglas
  • Book: Modernity, the Environment, and the Christian Just War Tradition
  • Online publication: 05 May 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009106610.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Understanding the Self
  • Mark Douglas
  • Book: Modernity, the Environment, and the Christian Just War Tradition
  • Online publication: 05 May 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009106610.003
Available formats
×