Jan Dobelmann

For quite some time Samuel of Pufendorf is considered to be one of the early representative of a balanced philosophy of state concerning his discussion of a right to resist. The article examines this estimation in an examination of Pufendorf ’s De iure naturae et gentium and the consequential work De officio hominis et civis. For this purpose in an initial step the rights of subjects and Pufendorf ’s valuation of them will be examined; subsequently the monarch’s rights are being studied. Both are connected by the contractual work which is meant to constitute the state. The result show that Pufendorf values the rights of monarchs much higher than those of subjects, he turns them in to the despotism of the monarchs. The state appears to be one-sidedly arranged in favor of the monarch.