ABSTRACT
This chapter finds that Grotius' concept of justice in fact draws heavily on premodern thinkers; for example, his de Jure Belli cites eight ancient figures over 100 times each. In order to situate Grotius' conceptions of justice, the chapter begins by exploring classical conceptions of virtue, law, epistemology, theory, and practice. These themes will converge around three paradigmatic approaches to justice: the ancient concept of natural Right, the medieval concept of natural law, and the ostensibly modern concept of individual natural rights. If Grotius is great, it cannot simply be because he develops natural rights; it must have something to do with his own implicit admission that he stands on the shoulders of giants. For Plato, justice in its highest sense concerns not political institutions but the soul. Aristotle subdivides the genus of political justice into two species: "arithmetic" justice, and "geometric" justice.
