Abstract

The purpose of this study is to bring more clarity, under a historical-philosophical basis, to the idea of peace, and thus to peace as an object of value and desire. The strategy of the exposition is to analyse the concept of peace first in the illuminating treatment by Thomas Aquinas and then by one of the founders of the so-called School of Salamanca in the 16th Century, i.e., Francisco de Vitoria. The comparative analysis of the use of the concept by both thinkers should allow the conclusion that from Aquinas to Vitoria there is a shift from the idea of peace as an effect of love and perfect fulfillment of human desires to the idea of peace as an effect of justice and common agreement about justice as the rule of human relationships.