Vitoria and Erasmus on the justice of war

This chapter presents a comparative analysis of the perspectives of Vitoria and Erasmus on the theme of the justice of war. It is argued that this analysis reveals an important contrast between the more utopian position of Erasmus and the more realist (albeit firmly grounded in a Thomist natural law framework) perspective of Francisco de Vitoria. The chapter begins with an introductory section that provides an overview of the just war theory tradition that is pivotal for understanding the context of the discussion. The second section summarizes Erasmus’s views on the justice of war with an emphasis on the utopian elements in his approach. The third section provides an overview of Vitoria’s thought on the same issue outlining the influence of both the Thomist natural law theoretical framework and of the context of European expansion into the New World. The fourth section contextualizes the perspectives of Vitoria and Erasmus on the issue of the justice of war as well as on the conditions and prospects for peace in the broader setting of Christian humanism. The final section provides a summary of the main findings of the comparative analysis of the approaches of Vitoria and Erasmus on the justice of war and argues for their continued present-day relevance.