Conscience and Conquest: Francisco de Vitoria on Justice in the New World

The author considers the work of the 16th century Spanish Dominican Francisco de Vitoria on the justice of the conquest of the Americas. He argues that it is essential to read Vitoria's work in the light of Thomas Aquinas's views on virtue and conscience. In this light, Vitoria's condemnation of the Conquistadors is more sweeping than previous interpreters have thought. Finally, the author suggests that there is an important rift between Vitoria's thought and that of the generations that follow, with important consequences for understanding and applying just war thinking in the modern world.