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Full Idea
Grotius said there was a minimum core of morality (based on self-preservation), and disregarded the elaborate accounts of principles of natural law which Aristotelians had always sought to develop.
Gist of Idea
Grotius ignored elaborate natural law theories, preferring a basic right of self-preservation
Source
report of Hugo Grotius (On the Law of War and Peace [1625]) by Richard Tuck - Hobbes Ch.1
Book Ref
Tuck,Richard: 'Hobbes: a very short introduction' [OUP 2002], p.26
A Reaction
Aquinas would be the key Aristotelian here. I tend towards the Aristotelian view. If you go for the minimal view, it is not clear why there is a 'right' to self-preservation, rather than a mere desire for it.
| 7403 | Grotius ignored elaborate natural law theories, preferring a basic right of self-preservation [Grotius, by Tuck] |
| 7573 | The legal positivism of Hobbes said law is just formal or procedural [Hobbes, by Jolley] |
| 20930 | The existence of law is one thing, its merits and demerits another [Austin,J] |
| 20931 | Hart replaced positivism with the democratic requirement of the people's acceptance [Hart,HLA, by Zimmermann,J] |
| 7592 | For positivists law is a matter of form, for naturalists it is a matter of content [Scruton] |
| 20492 | Following some laws is not a moral matter; trivial traffic rules, for example [Wolff,J] |