A Letter on the Principles of Justness and Decency, Containing a Defence of the Treatise "De Cive" of the Learned Mr. Hobbes

Although little known today, the Utrecht physician and town councillor Lambert van Velthuysen (1622 1685) was a prolific Dutch seventeenth-century philosopher and a vociferous advocate of the new philosophies of Descartes and Hobbes. __The Letter on the Principles of Justness and Decency__ of 1651 constitutes both the first published reaction to Hobbes's political philosophy and the first attempt by a Dutch philosopher at using Hobbes to supply a Cartesian moral philosophy. It is also a highly original work that seeks to define the nature of virtue and vice and to justify the magistrate's right to punish crimes. It will thus be of interest not only to historians of philosophy but to all those interested in the social and cultural history of the Dutch Golden Age." "Although little known today, the Utrecht physician and town councillor Lambert van Velthuysen (1622-1685) was a prolific Dutch seventeenth-century philosopher and a vociferous advocate of the new philosophies of Descartes and Hobbes. The Letter on the Principles of Justness and Decency of 1651 constitutes both the first published reaction to Hobbes's political philosophy and the first attempt by a Dutch philosopher at using Hobbes to supply a 'Cartesian' moral philosophy. It is also a highly original work that seeks to define the nature of virtue and vice and to justify the magistrate's right to punish crimes. It will thus be of interest not only to historians of philosophy but to all those interested in the social and cultural history of the Dutch Golden Age."--Publisher's website. Contents......Page 5 Acknowledgements......Page 7 Translator's Preface......Page 9 Introduction......Page 21 A LETTER ON THE PRINCIPLES OF JUSTNESS AND DECENCY......Page 75 Preface to the Reader......Page 77 On the Principles of Justness and Decency......Page 85 A Demonstration from Holy Scripture......Page 177 EPISTOLICA DISSERTATIO DE PRINCIPIIS JUSTI ET DECORI......Page 199 Praefatio ad Lectorem......Page 201 De principiis justi et decori......Page 207 Probatio quaestionum quarundam ex Scriptura sacra......Page 283 Bibliography......Page 301 Index......Page 309 The Letter on the Principles of Justness and Decency (1651) by Lambert van Velthuysen deduces the nature of virtue and vice and the right to punish crimes from the Hobbesian principle of self-preservation