Samuel von Pufendorf (1632–1694)

The lawyer and historian Samuel Pufendorf (from 1694 Freiherr von Pufendorf) developed the leading system of state theory and rational law in enlightened absolutism (De jure naturae et gentium libri octo, 1672) on the basis of a rationalistic interpretation of natural law. He combined concepts of freedom and the dignity of man with the inherent requirements of the state, with reasons of state and with sovereignty in a theory of duties that made a clear distinction between law and morality, and employing a concept of international law based on natural law.

Samuel von Pufendorf (1632–1694), etching, approx. 20,6 × 32,1 cm, 1729, unknown artist; source: Pufendorf, Samuel Freiherr von: De rebus a Carolo Gustavo Sveciae rege gestis commentariorum: Sumptibus Christophori Riegelii, Literis Bielingianis, Norimbergae MDCCXXIX [1729], wikimedia commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Puf2.JPG, public domain.