Stefan Leicht (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich) was one of our visiting researchers at the 2021-2022 academic year. He won the Israel Council for Higher Education PhD Sandwich Scholarship and joined the center for the current year.

In his project, Stefan enlightens the intention of Grotius, especially his attitude towards religion and politics from a philosophical point of view. Compared to earlier approaches to the similar topic, he focuses on Grotius’s rhetoric and his art of writing to discover his real intention. Therefore, he consults the writings by Leo Strauss on Grotius and natural right.

In a nutshell, his project answers the following questions: Does Grotius consistently claim religion as a basis for society? Is he claiming this just for political purposes (as a kind of Machiavellianism) or following the authority of God? What is exactly the content of the Grotian religion? How do reason and revelation relate to each other in Grotius's writings? On which rationalistic potentials within his work do later thinkers like his readers Locke and Spinoza draw?

To answer all of these questions adequately, Grotius’s main writings are examined, especially the different editions of his De jure belli ac pacis (1625) and De veritate religionis Christianae (1627).

For example, there is a striking difference of the first version of the Prolegomena of De jure belli ac pacis compared to all later ones. In the first edition, where the origin of the law is examined, the “divine law”-phrase ("aut divinis constitutum legibus") is missing. This could already indicate, that the theological founding is removable, not obligatory or at least ambivalent.