Another Aspect of the Early Modern Natural Law Theorists

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K16983
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Public law
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Fukuoka Atsuko 東京大学, 大学院総合文化研究科, 准教授 (80323624)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 近世自然法論 / 主権・人権の歴史 / ヒストリオグラフィ / 西洋立憲主義 / グロティウス / ホッブズ / スピノザ / フベルス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project investigates biblical argumentations that accompanied the writings of natural law theorists in the early modern period, focusing on their use in the context of Dutch debates on jus circa sacra. Tracing biblical topoi as the medium of dialogue between authors, this study sheds light on a hitherto neglected thread of political exegesis of the Old Testament. It demonstrates how the legacy of the Remonstrant Controversy of the 1610s, which was resurrected in the 1640s to counter the Dutch version of Puritanism (Nadere Reformatie) and merged with domestic reactions to Hobbesian political thought, supplied the basic frame of argument for new generations of interpreters. They include the radical game-changer Spinoza on the one hand, and the convinced Calvinist but skeptic of Nadere Reformatie, Ulrik Huber, on the other. Combining contextualist survey with subtle textual exegesis, this project proposes another approach to the question of secularization and human rights history.

Free Research Field

公法学史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、今日の我々にとって極めてレレヴァントな国家と自由の問題を争点とする歴史上の論争について、当時の宗教的語彙の中に包み込まれているその含意を、どのように読み解き、どのように我々の言葉に翻訳してくるか、という課題に取り組むものである。今期は特に、その成果を英語で表現し、国際的に発信することに力を注いだ。