Pedro Da Fonseca: Humanism and Metaphysics (Age of Descartes, 8)

Also known as the "Portuguese Aristotle", Pedro da Fonseca S. J. (1527-1599) was a prominent figure in early modern Scholasticism and particularly in the history of the Society of Jesus. He took part in the writing of the Society's Ratio Studiorum and laid the groundwork for the publication of the famous Cursus Conimbricensis (1592-1606). Furthermore, he was the author of an influential handbook of logic and dialectics (the Institutionum Dialecticarum, 1564), in addition to being one of the most important and recognized commentators on Aristotle's Metaphysics in the sixteenth century (by his unfinished Commentaria, 1577-1612). This volume is the first collection of essays in English devoted to Fonseca, to his intellectual production, and his thought. The book gathers nine essays from scholars worldwide, among which are some of the most important current specialists in early modern Scholasticism, in Portuguese Aristotelianism, and the history of the Society of Jesus. So the volume presents, for the first time, a reliable portrait of the institutional role and the thought of Fonseca about many important questions of Western Metaphysics, as well as the reception of his work in the early modern age. Also known as the ?Portuguese Aristotle?, Pedro da Fonseca S. J. (1527-1599) was a prominent figure in early modern Scholasticism and particularly in the history of the Society of Jesus. He took part in the writing of the Society?s 'Ratio Studiorum' and laid the groundwork for the publication of the famous 'Cursus Conimbricensis' (1592-1606). Furthermore, he was the author of an influential handbook of logic and dialectics (the 'Institutionum Dialecticarum', 1564), in addition to being one of the most important and recognized commentators on Aristotle?s 'Metaphysics' in the sixteenth century (by his unfinished 'Commentaria', 1577-1612).00This volume is the first collection of essays in English devoted to Fonseca, to his intellectual production, and his thought. The book gathers nine essays from scholars worldwide, among which are some of the most important current specialists in early modern Scholasticism, in Portuguese Aristotelianism, and the history of the Society of Jesus. So the volume presents, for the first time, a reliable portrait of the institutional role and the thought of Fonseca about many important questions of Western Metaphysics, as well as the reception of his work in the early modern age Table of Contents 5 Introduction 7 Simone Guidi and Mário S. de Carvalho 7 Pedro da Fonseca: A Sixteenth-Century Humanist and Metaphysician* 7 Section I: Fonseca and Jesuit Pedagogy 19 Pedro da Fonseca 21 Humanism and the Jesuit Quest for a Philosophical Pedagogy 21 Cristiano Casalini 21 Pedro da Fonseca’s Presence in the ‘Coimbra Jesuit Course’ 39 A First Assessment 39 Mário S. de Carvalho 39 Section II: Disputing on Fonseca 61 Pedro da Fonseca’s Doctrine on the Middle Knowledge 63 João Rebalde 63 Fonseca’s Halfway Reductionism of Internal Senses 87 In Light of Mastri and Belluto’s Critique 87 Daniel Heider 87 Section III: Fonseca’s Metaphysics in Context 105 Pedro da Fonseca on the Scope and Unity of Metaphysics 107 Victor Salas 107 Fonseca on Categorical Relations 125 António Manuel Martins 125 Fonseca on Causation 145 Giuseppe Capriati 145 The Transcendental Properties of Ens and the Doctrine of Unum in Pedro da Fonseca 173 A Perspicuous Case of Neglected Platonic Origins of The Metaphysica Generalis 173 Igor Agostini 173 Fonseca on Substance, Subsistence, and Supposit 193 Simone Guidi 193 Bibliography 225 Index Nominum 243 Index Rerum 249