Metaphysik, Theologie und Ethik im Naturrecht der ‚Epochenschwelle‘

The study offers a new interpretation of the ‘epochal threshold’ (Blumenberg) from late medieval to early modern philosophy based on Gabriel Vásquez’s and Spinoza’s concepts of natural law. This transition is often interpreted in such a way that modern thought is characterised as ‘secular’, i.e. by a renunciation of theological figures of justification. In contrast, the study shows, with recourse to the natural law theories of Gabriel Vásquez and Spinoza, that this transition must be interpreted as a radicalisation of claims to ultimate justification rather than as a process of secularisation: God as an instance of justification is not excluded from the philosophical logic of justification, but rather consistently integrated into it.