Nature & Norms

Laws of Nature and Natural Laws

Nature and Norms in the Sixteenth Century: Laws of Nature and Natural Laws draws attention to one of the most fascinating and original, as well as neglected, times in the history of philosophy. The context of philosophy in the sixteenth century was set by remarkable and revolutionary events. Humanism, the Reformation, and the ‘discovery’ of the Americas are only some of the events that form philosophical thinking of this time. The project aims to understand the formation of a new conception of the relationship between a mechanical account of nature and the emergence of normativity. Within this setting, the project argues that a mechanical account of nature similar to the one defended by Galileo, Descartes and Hobbes were developed, and that this forced philosophers to develop new ways of conceiving political authority, slavery and race, which then became fundamental to philosophy in the seventeenth century, but whose origin has been little understood before. The project in particular draws attention to early sixteenth century Paris and aims to bring out the circle of John Mair (1467–1550). Mair was one of the most influential thinkers at this time. Several of his students became dominant figures in the later sixteenth century, particularly on the Iberian Peninsula.

This project builds on the previous project The Mechanization of Philosophy between 1300 and 1700 (https://mechanizationofphilosophy.org/)