Political and legal doctrine of Hugo Grotius in the curriculum of Russian universities: historical and theoretical aspects

The article is devoted to the teaching problem of political and legal doctrine of Hugo Grotius, who is known as the founder of the science of international law, in curriculum of modern Russian universities. Authors em-phasize interdisciplinary nature of the subject of the study, analyze the ideological and philosophical roots of the concept of Grotius, and the history of its study in the system of Russian higher education. Various aspects of the doctrine of Hugo Grotius affected in the disciplines of legal, political, historical and other areas. This article provides guidance on working with sources of authorship of the Dutch scientist, as well as a brief his-toriographical review of the dynamics of the perception of his ideas in domestic science that is put in direct dependence on the events of the political history of our country. In addition, the authors point to the need to study this doctrine in the context of the key processes that took place in Europe during the Early Modern period, as Hugo Grotius was not only a great thinker, but also a great statesman of his age. This circumstance largely determined the perspective of his work. Separately the genesis of the rationalist direction of the theory of natural law analyzed in the article. It became the ideological basis of the main political and legal treatises of Hugo Grotius “On the Law of War and Peace”. The authors show a decisive role of the Dutch scholar in the formation of this fundamental legal and political concepts, as well as the continuity of his work with the work of such followers as Samuel Pufendorf and Christian Thomasius. The authors emphasizes that the natural-law principles and values are essential not only for the development of scientific thought, but also for educational and upbringing process in modern Russian universities and schools.