96 Summary Grotius and the Natural Law Tradition BY PROFESSOR STIC STROMHOLM The author starts with thequestionwhy thereis so littleagreement on the nature and characteristics of Grotius’ contributionbothtojurisprudenceingeneral and to European thinking in the field of natural lawin particular. Quotinga number of recent studies, or textbook passages, he shows that whereas some writers describe Grotius as a revolutionary thinker, in particular by breaking up the traditional theological foundations of natural law and making that discipline an entirely secular matter, others describe the Dutchjurist as essentially conservative, making use of traditional arguments fromChristian as well as pre-Christian philosophy. Criticizing the adherents of the thesis of Grotius’ »modernism», the author goes on to demonstrate that all those statements in Dejure belli acpads which have been cited as evidence of the non-theological character of Grotian natural lawthinkingcomeclose tosimilar statements in scholastic writing, including the famous etiamsi daremus ... in Prolegomena, XI. The best explanation, the author submits, of what may seem to be inconsistency and illogical reasoning in Grotius, is likely tobe found if we accept the idea that both the Prolegomena and Book I of De jurebelli acpads are intended to be pleadings, accumulating — in an order, which is that of rhetoric rather than of logic — arguments in order to convince entirely different groups of readers very much in the same way as writers working in the traditional rhetorical tradition try to convince various groups and to gain their benevolent attention. If this is true, on the other hand, the author concludes, it is obvious that Grotius is basically a conservative writer, best to be understood against the background of his exceptionally broad general, legal, theological and literary culture. What makes his contribution »radical», it is finally submitted, is the political, legal and theological situation prevailing at the time De jure belli acpads was published.
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