Abstract

An interesting debate about natural law theories arose in seventeenth-century Germany. On the one hand Samuel Pufendorf conceived natural law as a universal science which had to be known by all men simply using their reason. On the other hand Valentin Alberti, an important theologian of the University of Leipzig, opposed to the rational conception of natural law an orthodox theological theory, which is based upon the Revelation and the Holy Scripture. A consequence of Alberti's conception was the superiority of the Christians in knowing the natural law, which has to be derived from the original state of integrity of the human kind ("status integritatis"). Alberti used as sources the Christian antiphilosophical tradition, particularly Lactantius, and the most important seventeenth-century Lutheran jurists, such as David Mevius and Caspar Ziegler. He tried as well to put his conception of natural law in harmony with Grotius' one, interpreting "De jure belli ac pacis" in a way that made it compatible with the "status integritatis" theory.