Law, Freedom of Will, and Moral Entities: On the Foundations of the Legal Philosophy of Francisco Suárez

The work De legibus ac Deo legislatore, first printed in 1612, represents in many respects both the culmination and the pinnacle of Francisco Suárez’s oeuvre. Suárez derives many of his positions – including some that provoked sharp criticism already during his lifetime – from other parts of his theology and philosophy. This lecture examines how Suárez’s principal work in legal philosophy is grounded in his broader theological and philosophical system. Central to this inquiry are, on the one hand, philosophical anthropology and the doctrine of human action, and, on the other, the conception of a third domain of being, situated between mental constructs and physical entities, whose objects Suárez designates as entia moralia.