Emerich de Vattel
Emerich de Vattel (April 25, 1714 – 1767) was a Swiss Philosopher, diplomat, and legal expert whose theories laid the foundation of modern international law and Political philosophy. He was born in Couvet in Neuchatel, Switzerland in 1714 and died in 1767 of edema. He was largely influenced in his philosophy by Gottfried Leibniz and Christian von Wolff and strove to integrate their ideas into the legal and political system. He is most famous for his 1758 work Droit des gens; ou, Principes de la loi naturelle appliqués à la conduite et aux affaires des nations et des souverains (also known as The Law of Nations or the Principles of International Law Applied to the Conduct and to the Affairs of Nations and of Sovereigns) was his claim to fame and won him enough prestige to be appointed as a councilor to the court of King Augustus III of Saxony.
Table of contents |
The Law of Nations
Vattel's masterpiece was largely influenced by The Law of Nations by Christian von Wolff. His work began, in fact, by translating Wolff's text from its Latin into the vernacular and adding his own thoughts. The work was also heavily influenced by Gottfried Leibniz and Hugo Grotius. Focused largely on the rights and obligations of citizens and states, the work also had ramifications for Just War Theory as it outlined international diplomacy as we now know it. The work is available online at Online Library of Liberty.
Other works
Vattel also published works other than his mangum opus. His last work was written in 1762 and concerned the Natural law philosophy of Wolff.
See also
- Christian von Wolff
- Hugo Grotius
- Leibnitz
- International law
- Just War
- Samuel Pufendorf
- Political Philosophy
Sources & external links
Categories: Philosophy stubs