JSI Seminar| Hobbes, Boyle, Locke: Transforming nature, yesterday and today

In-person event

The interdisciplinarity of the best natural lawyers in 17th century England contributed, without a doubt, to the richness of the emerging discourses on politics, finances, and especially on science. Thomas Hobbes, Robert Boyle and John Locke, key figures in my last book The Necessity of Nature, were all natural scientists. Robert Boyle is today known as the founder of the science of chemistry. Thomas Hobbes studied mathematics and geometry and though he had some problems to be recognized as an excellent mathematician, his training in natural sciences was at the best level of the time, while he was in constant conversation with scientists that have made history. Among other things, John Locke was a student of natural sciences under the life-long mentorship of Robert Boyle. Locke was also a legal philosopher and a practicing doctor, to the point that at some periods in his life he seemed to hesitate whether to pursue completely the career of a medical doctor or that of a legal philosopher.

Being in the intellectual company of those very extraordinary English gentlemen, and a few gentlewomen, observing their lives, reading their books, pamphlets and copious correspondence, studying how they acted individually and trying to understand how they interacted in groups, has helped me to ascertain how a Scientific Revolution looks like. My argument in this talk is that a Scientific Revolution happens through the transformation of the concept of nature and of the laws that that nature is thought to be subjected to, the so called natural laws.

During the seminar a few parallels will be drawn with today’s transformation of nature, reflecting on the importance of knowing where are we going to with this transformation.

Monica Garcia-Salmones wrote her LLD in international law at the Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights, (Helsinki University) with a thesis on the project of positivism in 20th century international law. After that she held several post-doc positions, in projects such as ‘History of International Law: Between Empire and Religion’ and ‘The Concept of Natural Rights’, also based at The Erik Castrén Institute, where she was a Senior Researcher and since 2016 an Associate Professor of International Law. Since 2023 Monica is Assistant Professor of Foundations of Law at the University of Maastricht, The Netherlands. Her research and teaching interests are in international legal theory, international law and the history of international law, including theories of the global common good, and theories of rights and virtues.

Time: 1-2pm

Venue: Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney, Camperdown campus

CPD Points: 1

This event is proudly presented by theat The University of Sydney Law School.

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