Abstracts Category : Other

Sociability in Samuel Pufendorf's Natural Law Theory

by Heikki Haara

Samuel Pufendorf's (1632 1694) theory of sociability has lately become the subject of renewed interest among intellectual historians and philosophers. Nevertheless, its moral psychological underpinnings have not been explored thoroughly in their own right. The present work is the first study devoted to the role of passions and inclinations in Pufendorf's moral and political philosophy. It examines Pufendorf's scattered remarks and observations on human psychology and evaluates the moral psychological assumptions underlying his theory of human sociability. Pufendorf's acknowledgement of the limits of individual rationality and the fact that people are always deeply embedded in the social and moral practices of particular societies reduces the role of internal moral obligations in his account of moral action. The application of agent-focused morality is relatively limited because Pufendorf believes that, in a large-scale society, most individuals govern their moral behaviour primarily through habitually-acquired dispositions rather than conscientious internal motivations. The central argument of this study is that Pufendorf's natural law theory includes a mechanism by which social interaction, guided by political governance, habituates people to internalize moral norms and govern their passions and actions so as to maintain and cultivate sociability. Pufendorf's theory of sociability intriguingly combines two conficting approaches to morality. On the one hand, he is a natural law theorist who bases the obligation to cultivate sociability on the commands of God, which are recognised by reason. On the other hand, sociability is not merely a normative rule discovered by reason. It is trough the set of social practises that humans in practise adopt sociability as their moral standard. Though Pufendorf's main aim is to demonstrate what the divinely imposed universal natural law norms are, his numerous perceptive remarks and observations on moral conduct as an internalized product of society points towards to the moral-psychological emphasis on habits and passions as a mechanism of sociability that became so important for numerous eighteenth-century authors. Vaikka Samuel Pufendorfin (1632-1694) teoria sosiaalisuudesta on herttnyt kiinnostusta viimeaikaisessa aatehistoriallisessa ja filosofisessa tutkimuksessa, sen moraalipsykologista perustaa ei ole juurikaan systemaattisesti tutkittu. Ksill oleva teos on ensimminen tutkimus tunteiden ja psykologisten taipumusten roolista Pufendorfin moraaliteoriassa ja poliittisessa filosofiassa. Siin tutkitaan Pufendorfin hajanaisia huomioita ja havaintoja ihmisen psykologiasta ja analysoidaan moraalipsykologisia olettamuksia, jotka muodostavat perustan Pufendorfin teorialle ihmisen sosiaalisuudesta. Pufendorf huomioi sek yksiliden rationaalisuuden rajoittuneisuuden ett heidn sitoutumisensa yhteiskuntiensa sosiaalisiin ja moraalisiin kytntihin, mik vhent tietoisten moraalisten motivaatioiden roolia moraalisessa toiminnassa. Pelkstn yksiln keskittyvn