Authority and Order in the Theory of Natural Law in the 18th Century

The project that I wish to pursue as a Lise Meitner fellow is a study of the conceptions of authority and order (moral and social) in the theory of natural law in the l8th century (from Barbeyrac to Vattel). In particular, I plan to study a significant moment in the evolution of these conceptions, the 1743 prize competition of the Academy of Dijon. The main point that I wish to clarify in my study is the question of natural authority. The conception of natural authority evolved in the Enlightenment in ways that are both stimulating from an intellectual point of view and historically significant. The locus of authority and the nature of the obligation incurred under natural law were not only important issues in themselves, but also the foundation for a complex and fluid debate on the nature, formation and conservation of social and moral order. What happened in the late 17th and early 18th century, in my judgement, is that the sharp opposition between the state of nature and the state of political association was replaced by a more gradual structure. The second aspect of my study is to document an episode of this evolution that did not receive the attention it deserves in the scholarly literature. The 1743 prize competition of the Academy of Dijon generated a series of essays, mostly submitted as entries but at least one intended as an answer to the question whether natural order could be immediately compatible with civilization. The quasi-totality of these materials were never published before, were scarcely studied. My intention is to assemble the (edited) 1743 competition essays together in a critical edition. I would add to this a few materials like an essay of Vattel and a few documents of the Academy. This introduction would in fact take the form of a study on ideas of freedom, authority and order in the natural law theories in the 18th century. The working title of this work would be "Civilizing Anarchy: Freedom and Natural Law in the l8th Century. The 1743 Competition of the Academy of Dijon". I also wish to use the result of the research in the history of the natural law theories in the 18th century in order to design a university course.