Formation of the human rights institute in the Middle ages

The article examines the worldview ideas of the most famous thinkers such as Thomas
Aquinas, Marseille Padua, and Niccolo Machiavelli, who have developed fundamental ideas of
human rights through their work, and their teaching is a great legacy for the modern world.
Thomas Aquinas paid special attention to the moral virtues of man, highlighting justice as the
most important of them. He also substantiated the basic prerequisites for the creation and
functioning of the state as a tool for the achievement of the common good and good while
preserving the common world and providing an opportunity for a dignified life of man and his
spiritual development. He emphasized the importance of the law in the state and its obligatory
promulgation for its proper “entry into force”. Aquinas emphasizes the peculiarities of the
mind of man, who must accordingly distinguish between good and evil, and be guided by the
“Laws of God” in his being, for it is God who gives us the basic commandments that are
unchanging. Padua is one of the first to offer the concept of “people - lawmaker”. In his
writings, he argued that it is the people who can create the best laws to create the common
good while confessing to the benefit of the whole people, not individual individuals. Also, this
concept is supported by arguments regarding the election of a better ruler, and the ruler must
do the will of the people. That is why the thinker prefers the elective monarchy in continuation
of his concepts. Thus, this thinker has developed important ideas that influence the formation
of the human rights institution and the principles of human-centrism in its various dimensions.
Machiavelli paid considerable attention to the strong ruler as such, who was able to govern the
state and the citizens from the realities, not from the philosophical and ideal perception of the
state and government, because he believed that there was too much gap between the two
concepts. Acceptable in Machiavelli’s interpretation was violence for the sake of the common
law and the protection of state interests, and laws and rights are the instrument of power itself.