PUFENDORF, SAMUEL von. - Historian, philosopher, and jurist, born at Dorfchemnitz in Saxony on 8 Jan. 1632, died at Berlin on 26 Oct. 1694. After completing his studies at Leipzig and Jena, he served as a tutor in Copenhagen from 1657, where he prepared his first work, *Elementorum iurisprudentiae universalis libri duo* (The Hague 1660).
Called to the University of Heidelberg, he was entrusted with the newly established chair of natural and international law; there he wrote, under the pseudonym Severinus de Monzambano, *De statu imperii Germanici* (Geneva 1667). Moving to Lund in Sweden, he composed his most famous work, *De iure naturali et gentium libri octo* (Lund 1672), which he abridged the following year in *De officio hominis et civis iuxta legem naturalem libri duo* (ibid. 1673). To the controversies aroused by these writings he replied with various pamphlets later published under the title *Eris Scandica* (Frankfurt 1686). The following year saw the appearance of *De habitu religionis christianae ad vitam civilem* (Bremen 1687), in which Pufendorf upholds the principle of religious freedom and tolerance. Already by 1677, having been appointed historiographer of the Kingdom of Sweden, he had devoted himself to historical writing, a pursuit he continued from 1688 in Berlin, where he remained until his death. Among his numerous historical works are to be noted: *Einleitung zur Historie der vornehmsten Reiche und Staaten in Europa* (Frankfurt 1682), *Commentariorum de rebus Sueciis libri XXVI* (Utrecht 1686), *De rebus gestis Frederici Wilhelmi Magni* (Berlin 1695), and *De rebus gestis Frederici III Electoris Brandenburgici* (ibid. 1784).
Pufendorf’s doctrine of natural law is directly linked to that of Hugo Grotius (v. GRAMONT, HUIG), though he intensifies Grotius’s rationalistic and anti-theological stance in an attempt to found natural law exclusively on reason. For Pufendorf, natural law is entirely distinct from religion, since its task is to establish norms of conduct in this life and relates only to external actions. Besides Grotius, HOBBES, THOMAS (v.) is evident, though Pufendorf opposes Hobbes’s empiricism (v.) with a rigorous rationalism (v.) that lends his doctrine a markedly abstract and anti-historical character. Although not highly original, his system is developed with great systematic rigor, reflecting his aim to construct a system of natural law possessing the same rigor as that of physical science. In it, far more than in Grotius’s doctrines, are found all the characteristic theories of legalism: that of the state of nature, conceived ahistorically as preceding political society and, unlike Hobbes, depicted as a peaceful state albeit marred by insecurity; that of the social contract, by which men, to secure their rights, constitute the State by submitting to political authority; and that of the supremacy of the State over the Church and of freedom of conscience. The State (v.), finally, is for Pufendorf a moral person whose will, derived from the agreements of many subjects, is regarded as the will of all for the purpose of achieving common peace and security.