Moral Philosophy in the Early Modern Period
Summary
The Early Modern Period, spanning roughly from the Renaissance through to the late eighteenth century, witnessed a profound transformation in the understanding of moral philosophy. Thinkers sought to reconcile classical traditions with emerging scientific, political and theological challenges. Natural law theories, drawing on Aristotle and Cicero, were reformulated by jurists such as Hugo Grotius to underpin international relations and secular states. In parallel, English empiricists advanced a language of moral responsibility informed by observation of human nature, laying foundations for political liberalism. Debates over church-state relations, the role of conscience and the grounds of sociability infused works by figures such as Thomas Hobbes and John Locke with enduring relevance. Scholastic approaches gave way to more systematic terminological frameworks, while universities adapted curricula to address scepticism and moral uncertainty. Across Catholic and Protestant contexts, moral thinkers engaged with theological commitments and burgeoning natural-scientific insights, fostering a discourse that would shape Enlightenment ethics, modern legal theory and contemporary debates on rights and duties.
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Moral Philosophy in the Early Modern Period publication trend
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Technical terms
Natural law: The idea that moral principles are derived from human nature and universal reason rather than divine revelation.
Terminological framework: A systematic set of concepts and vocabulary used to describe and analyse a philosophical domain.
Corporeal God: A conception of deity as having a material or extended bodily form, contrary to traditional immaterial conceptions.
References
- Formation of Terminological System of Moral Philosophy in Works of John Locke: Innovation and Tribute to Tradition. Nauchnyi Dialog (2022).
- Natural Law and the Chair of Ethics in the University of Naples, 1703–1769. Modern Intellectual History (2020).
- Henry More and Thomas Hobbes’s Corporeal God. Religions (2024).
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