Passions and the German enlightenment : the political thought of J.H.G. von Justi

Abstract

This thesis is the first comprehensive interpretation of J.H.G. von Justi’s political and international thought. It demonstrates that the intellectual world of Justi was much more diverse and open than has previously been admitted. The same is true of the tradition of cameralism which has been largely misunderstood. Cameralism was not an obstacle for the reception of natural law theories that emphasised the passionate and self-interested side of the human nature. On the contrary, it was Justi who built his sciences of state on the foundation of natural law. So far those scholars who have admitted the importance of the natural law to Justi - with the exception of Horst Dreitzel - have fallen back on the idea that the natural law Justi adopted was that of Christian Wolff, an interpretation which is in itself another sign of the belief that German enlightenment was a unitary movement. However, it was the natural law of Schmauss and not of Wolff on which Justi built his theory of the state and similarly, of international relations. The German enlightenment was not a singular movement solely in the hands of rationalist metaphysicians. One of the guiding lines of this thesis is that Justi’s entire thought was constructed to oppose this tradition.