ABSTRACT
This chapter describes conflict of principles which is found in early modern thought. It suggest that there is a way in which one may resolve what appears to be a very serious conflict about the relationship of justice to utility. While Hugo Grotius holds that human sociability and reason are the source of perfect rights, he also refers to those human faculties as "the internal Principles of Man". Grotius takes pactum to be an inter-subjective device which makes manifest what individuals has internally in their minds, and by which they can mutually adjust their claims. Unlike Hobbes, Grotius trusted natural sociability and reason, and relied on God's support while thinking about justice. The chapter shows what Grotius and David Hume claimed about the origin of justice and try to clarify what principles they appealed to in advancing their claims. Hume assigns only a minimal role to reason, and claims that the passion of self-interest "restrains itself" "upon the least reflection".
