Francisco de Vitoria on Knowing the Just Causes for War

Abstract The Late Scholastic Francisco de Vitoria created an intricate model of how moral knowledge and public decision-making are produced in the context of his just war theory. It allowed him to demonstrate how social interaction plays a crucial role that manifests itself two main aspects: (a) the role the knowledge of general precepts plays in his theory and (b) the social mechanisms that are required to apply those norms to real-life decisions. Those aspects show that social discursive processes are central when navigating the complex relationship between factual and normative knowledge. In emphasizing the collaborative nature of this process, which includes priests, princes, but also ordinary citizens, Vitoria expands the horizon of how public decisions are socially constituted, containing the possibility of not following the prince’s judgment.