Abstract

In the philosophy of the 17th and early 18th century, political legitimacy was regarded not least as a question of establishing a generally accepted and valid rationale for the imposition of norms. This question was given a new urgency in the context of the debate on natural law. The volume offers a detailed analysis of the major landmarks and positions in the development toward a secularized substantiation of legal norms. In so doing it focuses not only on the theoretical resources and problems involved in such a substantiation but also inquires into the consequences and functions such normative processes have for political theory.