Nature and Normativity in Fourteenth- to Seventeenth-century Thought

Nature and Normativity in Fourteenth- to Seventeenth-century Thought

A central Aristotelian idea is that moral and political norms are grounded in human nature. Human beings are understood as continuous with the rest of nature. Just as an acorn develops into an oak in accordance with its nature, so too do human beings develop in accordance with their nature, namely, to live virtuous lives within political communities.

This conference investigates how the link between nature and normativity was understood in Late Scholastic and Renaissance thought. To what extent was the Aristotelian framework preserved, and in what ways was it rethought and challenged?

The event forms part of the research project Nature and Norms (funded by the Swedish Research Council), which examines how shifting conceptions of nature in natural philosophy reshaped views of moral and political norms. A central thesis is that new conceptions of nature in mechanistic terms eroded the foundations of traditional natural norms. This raises the broader historical question: did these developments prepare the way for contractualist theories of society, such as those advanced by Hobbes and Locke?

Keynotes:

Annabel Brett FBA

Professor of Political Thought and History

University of Cambridge

Cary J. Nederman

Professor of Political Science

Texas A&M University

Preliminary Schedule:

Location: Gula Villan (Stockholm University Campus) 

Day 1 (May 28th)

10:00–10:15
Welcome and Introduction

10:15–11:00
Christian Rode (Universität Bonn)
Inequality Already in Paradise? Anthropological Equality and Political Participation

Chair: Alexander Stöpfgeshoff (Nord University)

11:00–11:15
Coffee break

11:15–12:00
Erik Åkerlund (Newman Institute)
Mair’s Political Philosophy

Chair: Tomas Ekenberg (Newman Institute)

12:00–12:45
Victor Salas (Sacred Heart Major Seminary)
Untangling the Threads of Nature: Luis de Molina on Political Community and Its Potestates

Chair: Sylvain Roudaut (CNRS – SPHERE)

12:45–13:45
Lunch

13:45–14:30
Rudolf Schüßler (University of Bayreuth)
The Road to Vázquez – Roots of His Conceptions of Natural Law and Sin

Chair: Miira Tuominen (Stockholm University)

14:30–14:45
Coffee break

14:45–16:15
Cary Nederman (Texas A&M) – Keynote
Nature, Equality and Consent – Egalitarianism and Liberty in Late Medieval Thought
Chair: Henrik Lagerlund (Stockholm University)

Day 2 (May 29th)

10:00–10:45
Florian Koenig (Goethe University Frankfurt)
On the Use of the Term “Status” in the School of Salamanca

Chair: Erik Åkerlund (Newman Institute)

10:45–11:00
Coffee break

11:00–11:45
Stefan Schweighöfer (Goethe University Frankfurt)
From Esse Morale to Ens Morale: Suárez and the Discontinuity between Nature and Norms

Chair: Alexander Stöpfgeshoff (Nord University)

11:45–12:30
Lavinia Peluso (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)
Thomas Hobbes’s Analysis of Human Equality. The Price for Peace and the Polemic with Aristotle

Chair: Sylvain Roudaut (CNRS – SPHERE)

12:30–13:30
Lunch

13:30–14:15

Thierry Hoquet (Université Paris Nanterre)
Jean Boucaux’s Cause célèbre (1738) and the Question of Natural Slaves

Alexander Stöpfgeshoff (Nord University)

14:15–15:00
Michael-Francis Polios (Duquesne University)
Freedom and Servitude: The Construction of Political Norms in Early-Modern Europe

Henrik Lagerlund (Stockholm University)

15:00–15:15
Coffee break

15:15–16:45
Annabel Brett (University of Cambridge) – Keynote
TBA

Chair: Erik Åkerlund (Newman Institute)

16:45-17.00 Concluding Remarks