 Vives holds that the best means to secure the reform of society is through the moral and practical training of the individual. In his view, there are two related paths which are necessary to develop our humanity: education and action. Education is fundamental in order for us to rise above our animal instincts and realize our full potential as human beings. However, learning needs to be applied in every day life, especially for the public good (see Verbeke, 2014). Man, by his own nature, is a social being: “Experience proves every day that man was created by God for society, both in this and in the eternal life. For this reason God inspired in man an admirable disposition of benevolence and good will toward other men” (VI, 222–3). In the first book of De subventione pauperum, which consists of a theoretical discussion of the human condition, he stresses not only our need for and dependency on others, but also our natural inclination to love and help one another. He regards the development of society as a distinctly human achievement, based on the ability to profit from experience and turn knowledge to useful ends. Social problems, such as poverty and war, are the result of emotional disorders. During Vives’ lifetime, Europe experienced dissension and war between princes and within the church, as well as the increased threat posed by Muslim expansion into Western Europe. He addressed the problem of political and religious disturbances in several works, which also deal with the psychological origins of discord, the proper conduct of all the offices of the commonweal, and the theme of Christian harmony. His mayor political text on European war and peace is De concordia et discordia in humano genere where he sets out the case for the origins of discord in society and he aims to show how peace and concord can be fostered through knowledge of human nature, especially the emotions. According to him, the virtue of the people can only be maintained and promoted in peace. “In war, as in a sick body, no member exercises its office properly” (V, 180–1). Vives deplored the Italian war between France and Spain (1521–6), which, he felt, completely ignored the rights of the suffering population, and accused Francis I and Charles V of irresponsibility and criminal ambition (VI, 480). In these circumstances, he often referred to the notion of natural law, which, as he explains in his preface to Cicero’s De legibus (On the Laws), has the same validity everywhere because it was impressed on the heart of every human being before birth (V, 494).