Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The School of Salamanca in the Affairs of the Indies considers the decline of the medieval universal world through the independence and secularization of the political community and the establishment of continuous and imbalanced relations between European and non-European people, through the expansion of European countries. This book reveals the strong contribution of the School of Salamanca. Internally it imposed moral restrictions against "interior barbarism," that is, power beyond the law and externally, it included "exterior barbarism," that is, "barbarian" societies, in the common political order. This book situates the School of Salamanca in the mainstream history of European political thought, drawing attention to the affairs of the Indies and relating them to other contemporary global issues.
Synopsis
The School of Salamanca in the Affairs of the Indies explores the significance of the School of Salamanca, such as Vitoria and Soto, and related thinkers, such as Las Casas and Sep lveda, in the formation of the early modern political order. It analyses the early modern understanding of political order, with a focus both on the decline of the medieval universal world through the independence and secularization of the political community and the establishment of continuous and imbalanced relations between various European and non-European political communities.
Through its investigation, this book highlights how Salamancans and related thinkers clearly distinguished their understanding of political order from medieval thought, and did so in a different way to contemporary and later thinkers, such as Machiavelli, Luther, Bodin, and, Grotius, particularly with regards to the Indies. It also reveals the strong contribution of the School of Salamanca in the affairs of the Indies, both internally and externally, imposing moral restrictions against "interior barbarism," that is, power beyond the law, and including "exterior barbarism," that is, "barbarian" societies, in the common political order.
Situating the School of Salamanca in the mainstream history of European political thought, The School of Salamanca in the Affairs of the Indies is ideal for academics and postgraduate students of intellectual history and of Spanish colonial expansion.