On the Idea of Potency ─ Juridical and Theological Roots of the Western Cultural Tradition

Sweeping through the history of Western philosophy of law, Emanuele Castrucci deals with the metaphysical idea of potency as defined by Spinoza and Nietzsche, upsetting entrenched theories of jurisprudence.

Castrucci first addresses how the idea of potency can change the meaning of the power ascribed to an omnipotent God. This brings together classical Greek philosophy with Jewish biblical exegesis, which Castrucci links through the juncture of Christianity. He then relates potency to the classical philosophical tradition in Aristotle's Metaphysics and its Arabic interpretations, particularly Ibn Rushd's (Averroës). This leads us to the genesis of natural law theory in Western philosophy, from Augustine to Aquinas and from Duns Scotus to Ockham.

Moving on, Castrucci examines the inherently problematic concept of political theology, pitting Spinozan-Nietzschean potency against Kant and Enlightenment natural law to reveal the weaknesses inherent in the Enlightenment system. Finally, Castrucci applies the theories of Carl Schmitt to the philosophical rationalism of the Western tradition, showing us how it has failed to contain absolute power in a juridical sense.

Emanuele Castrucci is Professor of Philosophy of Law at the University of Siena. He taught previously at the Universities of Florence and Genoa. His studies mainly concern the domain of the history of legal and political ideas, which include such areas as the sources and forms of modern European legal thought, the reconstruction of the legal theory of the early 20th century German State and the theological roots of the cultural tradition of Western civilization. He has contributed to the diffusion in Italy of the thought of Carl Schmitt, editing the Italian edition of Der Nomos der Erde imVolkerrecht des Jus publicum Europaeum (1991).