University of Groningen Press publishes first open access scholarly book

The first English translation of the Prolegomena iuris naturalis by Gottfried Achenwall was recently published with the University of Groningen Press (UGP).

It is the first scholarly open access book available at UGP and can be downloaded as PDF or EPUB.

The book was edited by Pauline Kleingeld, Professor of Ethics and its History at the Faculty of Philosophy (University of Groningen), and translated by Corinna Vermeulen.

A hardcover version (ISBN: 9789403422541) is available by Uitgeverij kleine Uil or all regular (online) book stores. Printing on demand by Uitgeverij kleine Uil.

Background

In this book, Achenwall (1719–1772) presents the philosophical foundation for his comprehensive theory of natural law. The book is of interest not only because it provides the basis for a careful, systematic, and well-respected eighteenth-century theory of natural law in the Leibniz-Wolffian tradition, but also because it sheds important light on the work of Immanuel Kant.

Achenwall’s work influenced Kant’s legal and political philosophy as well as his ethics, and it is indispensable for understanding Kant’s Feyerabend Lectures on Natural Law and his Metaphysics of Morals.

This volume complements the translation of Achenwall’s handbook, Natural Law published with Bloomsbury.