Hugo Grotius and the history of political thought

This chapter divides Grotius’s influence into three problem areas that are, however, neither mutually exclusive nor jointly exhaustive of the field. First, there is the question of the nature of rights and their relationship to natural law. Second, there is the question of the basis for, including the ground of obligation to, natural law. And, third, there is the question of the scope and composition of natural law. Grotius’s most important contribution to modern thought was his theory of rights, for, although this had precursors, it was in his formulation that it gained currency–although this has been obscured from scholarship until recently. The chapter describes the connection between Grotius’s subjective rights theory and his theory of the state. Grotius is famous, or notorious, for being one of the pioneers of the contractual theory of absolute sovereignty.