Vitoria, Francisco de

Abstract

Francisco de Vitoria is recognized not only as one of the founding fathers of international law but also as one of the renovators of the sixteenth-century theological method. During his 20 years of teaching, he carried out an intense intellectual activity of reflection on various themes and problems not only of an academic nature but also related to the strong political, social, and economic tensions that marked the first half of the sixteenth century. Thomas Aquinas was his guide to the discussion of these problems. By adopting Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae in place of Peter Lombard’s Sentences for his classes, he renewed university teaching. As a matter of fact, it is from Aquinas’ work that he drew the main theoretical fundaments of his own reflections on the pressing issues that mid-sixteenth-century European consciences were called to face for the first time. Specifically, he commented I-IIae qq. 90–108. There, he found the concept of lex naturalis, which became the main focus of his ethical and political speculation. The importance Vitoria gave to the natural law can be seen in the De Indis (1539), with which the author joined the debate on the thorny question of the legitimacy of the Spanish conquest of the American territories. Indeed, in this relectio he managed to combine a new interpretation of subjective rights with the theme of natural law, typical of the medieval tradition, this way proposing a valid defense in favor of the Indians.