Book contents
- The Necessity of Nature
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law
- The Necessity of Nature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figure
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 A Christian Science
- 2 Hobbes’s Doctrine of Necessity
- 3 Necessities, Natural Rights and Sovereignty in Leviathan
- 4 Reformers on the Necessary Knowledge
- 5 Necessity, Free Will and Conscience
- 6 The Grand Business of Nature
- 7 Robert Boyle, the Empire over Nature
- 8 Locke’s Early Writings
- 9 Medicine, Oeconomy and Needs
- 10 Money and the Doctrine of Necessities
- 11 The Scientification of Money
- 12 The Doctrine of Necessities and the (Public) Good
- Conclusions
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law
1 - A Christian Science
Searching for the Common Good and the Public Good
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 February 2023
- The Necessity of Nature
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law
- The Necessity of Nature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figure
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 A Christian Science
- 2 Hobbes’s Doctrine of Necessity
- 3 Necessities, Natural Rights and Sovereignty in Leviathan
- 4 Reformers on the Necessary Knowledge
- 5 Necessity, Free Will and Conscience
- 6 The Grand Business of Nature
- 7 Robert Boyle, the Empire over Nature
- 8 Locke’s Early Writings
- 9 Medicine, Oeconomy and Needs
- 10 Money and the Doctrine of Necessities
- 11 The Scientification of Money
- 12 The Doctrine of Necessities and the (Public) Good
- Conclusions
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law
Summary
The scepticism of the period from roughly 1645 to 1680 prompted philosophers’ attempts to rethink theology and moral and civil philosophy in their search for ideas concerning the common and the public good. Ralph Cudworth’s effort to overcome the challenges posed by fragmentation in religion and politics and to develop a philosophy helpful in uniting society, but not at the expense of liberty, demonstrate that Neoplatonism was an important force during that period. In a sceptical era, John Selden contributed to particularism in natural law. A discussion of Sir Robert Filmer’s life and key political ideas together with the principles of political economy he espoused follows. Given the disintegration of moral theology in that period, the commercialization of societal ties seems to have been unstoppable. Against the Macphersonian critique of possessive individualism, the chapter puts forward the opening argument that both Hobbes and Locke sought to tame the harsh society characterized by the use of credit they saw before them and that they chose to do so by means of political philosophy and natural law.
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- The Necessity of NatureGod, Science and Money in 17th Century English Law of Nature, pp. 19 - 48Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023