Francisco de Vitoria

Francisco de Vitoria

Francisco de Vitoria, OP (Francisco de Victoria; c. 1492, Burgos – 12 August 1546, Salamanca) was a Spanish Renaissance Roman Catholic philosopher, theologian and jurist, founder of the tradition in philosophy known as the School of Salamanca, noted especially for his contributions to the theory of just war and international law. He is considered by some scholars the "father of international law", though most reject this view. Pagden's introduction to the Cambridge edition of Vitoria's Political Writings, for instance, argues '[s]uch a notion is anachronistic, since the concept of an "international law" has its origins in the "modern" natural-law theorists, notably Hugo Grotius, Samuel Pufendorf, and John Selden...Vitoria's account of the ius gentium, furthermore, occupies only a small part of his total work, and is not entirely consistent.' Because of Vitoria's conception of a "republic of the whole world" (res publica totius orbis) he recently has been labeled "founder of global political philosophy".

Life

Francisco had Jewish converso ancestry. He became a Dominican in 1504, and was educated at the College Saint-Jacques in Paris, where he met Erasmus and went on to teach theology from 1515 (under the influences of Pierre Crockaert and Thomas Cajetan). In 1523 he returned to Spain to teach theology at the monastery of St. Gregory at Valladolid. Three years later, he was elected to the Prime Chair of theology at the University of Salamanca, where he was instrumental in promoting Thomism (the philosophy and theology of St. Thomas Aquinas) until 1546. He renewed the methods of theology and natural or public law.

A noted scholar, he was publicly consulted by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. He worked to limit the type of power the Spanish empire imposed on the Native Peoples. He said "The upshot of all the preceding is this, then, that the aborigines undoubtedly had true dominion in both public and private matters, just like Christians, and that neither their princes nor private persons could be despoiled of their property on the ground of their not being true owners." Thomas E. Woods goes on to describe how some wished to argue that the natives lacked reason, but the evidence was against this because the natives had obvious customs, laws, and a form of government. His works are known only from his lecture notes, he himself having published nothing in his lifetime, nevertheless his influence, such as on the Dutch legal philosopher, Hugo Grotius, was significant; Relectiones XII Theologicae in duo libros distinctae was published posthumously (Antwerp, 1604).

Works

Francisco de Vitoria, Statue before San Esteban, Salamanca

Statue of Francisco de Vitoria, in Vitoria-Gasteiz

Notes of his lectures from 1527-1540 were copied by students and published under the following titles:

• De potestate civili, 1528
• Del Homicidio, 1530
• De matrimonio, 1531
• De potestate ecclesiae I and II, 1532
• De Indis, 1532
• De Jure belli Hispanorum in barbaros, 1532
• De potestate papae et concilii, 1534
• Relectiones Theologicae, 1557
• Summa sacramentorum Ecclesiae, 1561
• De Indis et De Jure Belli (1917 translation of a large part of the Relectiones Theologicae)

Literature

• Johannes Thumfart: Die Begründung der globalpolitischen Philosophie. Zu Francisco de Vitorias "relectio de indis recenter inventis" von 1539. Berlin 2009. (256 p.).

External links

• Joseph Schroeder, Francis of Vittoria from Catholic Encyclopedia (1911). Nihil Obstat, September 1, 1909.
• Rare Books of Spain Francisci de Victoria shows birth date of 1483 as Quoted in the preface of DE INDIS ET DE IVRE BELLI RELECTIONES