Samuel Von Pufendorf First Teacher in Germany give a course in Natural Law
Biography of Samuel Von Pufendorf
Samuel Von Pufendorf was a German scholar, Samuel Von Pufendorf lived in 1632-1694. Samuel Von Pufendorf was a great teacher. His teachings are a combination of the teachings of Grotius and those of Thomas Hobbes. From Grotius, Samuel Von Pufendorf took the meaning of natural law, namely as a rule of reason or pure reason.
While from Thomas Hobbes the nature of greed is taken from humans.
Thus Samuel Von Pufendorf establishes that as the basic principle of his teaching, humans in a natural state or inabstrakto humans, but these inabstrakto humans live not as described by Thomas Hobbes, but they have been united by their social-natural instincts, they live without human power because for him what applies is the law of nature only, so it is only a kind of inspiration, not their reason.
So they feel unhappy, but even so they are not always in a state of war or chaos because of their greed as described by Thomas Hobbes bellum omnium contra omnes.
To avoid that unhappiness, they then entered into an agreement, which is called a voluntary agreement.
Samuel Von Pufendorf Testament is multilevel
First the people carry out a community agreement, to form a society. Then the community entered into a submission agreement with the ruler or king.
So here the king is elected, his power is not absolute, his power is limited by God's law, natural laws and customs, as well as the objectives of the society which has been established, namely happiness and general welfare.
Samuel Von Pufendorf was the first teacher in Germany to give a course in natural law. The main description is about natural law and law between countries, therefore the book is named "Jus naturale et gentium". The teachings of Samuel Von Pufendorf were then continued by Christian Thomasius.
Christian Thomasius lived 1655-1728.
Samuel Von Pufendorf wrote a book on the basics of natural law and law between countries (Fundamenta Juris naturale et gentium). In the book Samuel Von Pufendorf provides a sharp separation between law and decency. His teaching on natural law was practical, because he argued that natural law came from a ruler who did not need a contract of subjugation, thus he also denied the community agreement.
Because between the ruler or king and the people there is a system of government, namely the constitution. This is the original thought of Samuel Von Pufendorf.
The teaching of Samuel Von Pufendorf says that law between countries is part of natural law and can be found by reason.
Whereas in the teachings of Christian Thomasius it is said that natural laws which are born or derived from predetermined factors and based on human instinctive nature will be pushed backward, while thoughts about legislation will come forward and be seen clearly.
Thus the teachings of Christian Thomasius would be an important step in the growth of the law of nature in the XVII century.
