The Cambridge Companion to Pufendorf

Knud Haakonssen has studied the diaspora of modern natural law, its adaptation as moral philosophy and its academic institutionalization in various European contexts. His publications include Natural Law and Moral Philosophy (1996), 'German natural law', in The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Political Thought (2006), and 'Holberg's Law of Nature and Nations', in Ludvig Holberg (1684–1754) (co-ed., 2017). He is also editor of Thomas Reid on Practical Ethics (2007), A System of Moral Philosophy by Francis Hutcheson (forthcoming), and a new edition of the eighteenth-century translation of Pufendorf's The Law of Nature and Nations (forthcoming). Ian Hunter is well known as an exponent and defender of contextualist intellectual history. He has intervened decisively in debates over the history of natural law (Rival Enlightenments, 2001), secularization ('Secularization: The birth of a modern combat concept', Modern Intellectual History, 12, 1, 2015), historiography ('The contest over context in intellectual history', History and Theory, 2019) and the role of 'theory' in the modern humanities ('The history of theory', Critical Inquiry, 33, 1, 2006).

• Preface; System of references and abbreviations; 1. Introduction: life, work and historical context Ian Hunter; 2. Politics and the constitution of the Empire Joachim Whaley; 3. Pufendorf's composite method Michael Seidler; 4. The metaphysics of moral entities; 5. Human nature, the state of nature and natural law Ian Hunter; 6. Pacts, language and property Pärtel Piirimäe; 7. Family and marriage Simone Zurbuchen; 8. Pacts, sovereignty and forms of government Ian Hunter and Knud Haakonssen; 9. The civil order: law, punishment, and social value Knud Haakonssen; 10. The law of nations Mads Langballe Jensen; 11. Polemics and controversies: regarding the Eris Scandica Fiammetta Palladini; 12. State, church, toleration, reconciliation Walter Sparn; 13. Political histories Sebastian Olden-Jørgensen; 14. Receptions, contestations and confusions Knud Haakonssen; Bibliography.

'This exciting volume brings leading scholars together to offer an authoritative view of one of the most important figures in early modern European thought. Haakonssen and Hunter's expert curation allows us to appreciate Pufendorf's cosmopolitan enterprise at the cutting edge of European intellectual culture, bridging disciplines, institutions and countries in a way that is reflected by the contributors themselves.' Annabel Brett, Professor of Political Thought and History, University of Cambridge