Iberian Scholastic Philosophy at the Crossroads of Western Reason
Title: A Filosofia Escolástica Ibérica nas encruzilhadas da razão ocidental: A recepção de Aristóteles e a transição para a modernidade (FEIERO)
Project reference: PTDC/FIL-FIL/109889/2009
Principal researcher: José Francisco Preto Meirinhos
Institution: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto (FLUP
Research unit: Instituto de Filosofia da Universidade do Porto (UI&D 502)
Begining: 01-02-2011
End: 31-07-2014
Funder: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Funding: € 90.000,00
Main website: https://ifilosofia.up.pt/proj/aristport/projeto
Summary
The so-called second scholastic (16th-17th centuries) had in the Iberian Peninsula one of its means of greater expression and creativity. The universities of Coimbra, Alcalá and Salamanca stand out for having hosted some of the most important philosophers of the time. Surpassed by the history of thought and science, under the weight of the theories attracting the philosophers of the new modernity, they were neglected for a long time. The thought of authors such as Francisco Suárez, Luís de Molina, Pedro da Fonseca, the Coimbra Jesuits, among many others, have earned growing attention in fields such as logics, epistemology, metaphysics and political philosophy. Many studies and projects have tried to shed light over these authors and their institutional context or time. However, there is still plenty to be studied. Many authors, with vast work and remarkable importance in their time, continue to be ignored or only briefly mentioned. Immense manuscript collections are yet to be studied in several Portuguese Libraries, such as Porto, Braga, Coimbra, Lisboa. On the other hand, it has never been carried out the long term study of these authors, besides their isolated contribution to the history of philosophy, including them in a movement that begins with the foundation of the universities in the 13th century. These are some lacunae that this project aims to overcome from three thematic, yet articulated approaches.
Main areas
Three thematic axes, which were pivotal in 13th-17th Century philosophy, will be developed:
1) Metaphysics, beginning with the works by Suárez and John Poinsot and then analysing the works by their Peninsular antecedents, coord. by Paula Oliveira e Silva
2) Nature and the knowledge, paying special attention to the interconnections between physics, cosmology and epistemology, coord. by Manuel Lázaro Pulido;
3) Natural and positive law in the commentary traditions on Aristotle’s “Nicomachean Ethics” V and on Aquina s “Summa Theologiae” Ia-IIae, qq. 90-97 (De legibus treatise), coord. by Lidia Lanza.
Activities and expected achievements
-- reading and analysis of the works of authors of the said period and on the fields defined in the project, with the discussion by the team in bi-monthly seminar
-- archive and library research to identify the manuscripts by or related to authors being studied
-- study of the manuscript and printed sources, as well of secondary literature
-- preparation of monographic studies (papers or books) on the subjects of the project
-- update of the research library (sources and studies) open to all those interested and to other projects
-- collaboration with the centres and unities that at the national and international levels focus on connected themes. The international consultants, due to their status and research activities, will play a pivotal role in establishing links with other institutions
-- edition of unpublished texts
-- bilingual editions of complete or selected philosophical texts (Molina, Fonseca, Poinsot, Suárez, etc.)
-- publication of specific work tools – dictionaries and lexicons – on the authors and the works produced at the time in Portugal and the main doctrines defended by them
-- cooperation with an international team (Brazil, Chile, Perou, Spain) on the transmission of Philosophy to Latin America, specially Brazil, in 16th-18th Century.
MEMBERS
PhD
José Francisco Preto Meirinhos (Investigador principal)
Lidia Lanza (core researcher)
Manuel Lázaro Pulido (core researcher)
Paula Isabel do Vale Oliveira e Silva (core researcher)
Bernardino Fernando da Costa Marques
Luis Alberto De Boni
MS
Ana Macedo Lima
João Carlos Martins Rebalde
Patrícia Joana do Nascimento Calvário
Collaborators
Alfredo Culleton
Roberto Hofmeister Pich
Project's grant holder
Marco Fernando Toste Vieira Martins de Sousa (01.01.2012 a 31.07.2014)
Scientific advisers
Jacob Schmutz (international adviser)
Santiago Orrego Sánchez (international adviser)
Funding
90.000€ by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia