Francisco de Vitoria and the Problems of Dominion and Justice

Recent decades have seen a new international line of research aimed at XVI and XVII century Hispanic thought (including, most notably, the authors associated with the School of Salamanca and their impact). The disciplines currently developing this line are mainly associated with the history and philosophy of law and economics. The former discipline deals with the formation of modern law and with the particular influence of ancient and medieval thought (especially in the concept of individual rights or human rights). The latter discipline is concerned with understanding the qualitative theory of money and new economic dynamics (new trade, exchange, and even financial tools). These studies converge in the development of several central notions in the field of a theory of justice dominion, use and property. While these notions can be defined in very similar terms within modern thought, XVI and XVII century authors have their own philosophical background, reaching diverse implications and conclusions. Taking advantage of earlier anthropological richness, as developed by pie-modern authors, including sixteenth century Hispanic thinkers, it is worth looking into the link between human dominion over that which is real within a framework of justice as one of the ideas that could be used to meet particular post-modern challenges in which many haw detected limitations and the need to overcome some of the concepts crystallized from modernity. Or that is my view, at least, such that failing to recognize a rich version of the dominion concept trips us up in ways that impede the adequate evaluation and understanding of these topics.