Universalismo moral y derecho de gentes en francisco de vitoria

Abstract

This paper discusses the place and the possible function of the concept of ius gen­tium in Francisco de Vitoria's thought, with regard to the foundation of a universalistic normative, legal and moral, frame for the Spanish intervention in America and the relation with the members of other peoples and cultures. This article supports that the notion of ius gentium allows to conceive a cosmopolitan frame of understanding and shared rules, based on the effective consensus of certain practices and rules of the communication between men and peoples, as an assumption being weaker and more capable of agreement than those of the natural law or the Christian theology. And the works of Vitoria and other Spanish Scholastics advance interesting ideas in this direction.