Second scholasticism (or late scholasticism) is the period of revival of
scholastic system of
philosophy and
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
, in the 16th and 17th centuries. The scientific culture of second scholasticism surpassed its medieval source (
Scholasticism) in the number of its proponents, the breadth of its scope, the analytical complexity, sense of historical and literary criticism, and the volume of editorial production, most of which remains hitherto little explored.
Scotism and Thomism
Unlike the "First", i.e. medieval scholasticism, a typical feature of second scholasticism was the development of schools of thought, developing the intellectual heritage of their "teacher". Two schools survived from earlier phases of scholasticism,
Scotism and
Thomism
Thomism is the philosophical and theological school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the Dominican philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, Aquinas' disputed questions ...
. The Scotists, mostly belonging to the various branches of the Franciscan order, include the Italians
Antonius Trombetta,
Bartolomeo Mastri,
Bonaventura Belluto; the Frenchman
Claude Frassen, the Irish emigrants
Luke Wadding,
John Punch, and
Hugh Caughwell; and the Germans
Bernhard Sannig and
Crescentius Krisper. The Thomists were usually but not exclusively represented by the
Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
ns in the
Dominican and the
Carmelite orders. They include
Thomas Cajetan
Thomas Cajetan (; 20 February 14699 August 1534), also known as Gaetanus, commonly Tommaso de Vio or Thomas de Vio, was an Italian philosopher, theologian, cardinal (from 1517 until his death) and the Master of the Order of Preachers 1508 to 151 ...
(or Caietanus),
Domingo de Soto,
Domingo Báñez,
Franciscus Ferrariensis, the
Complutenses,
João Poinsot and others.
Jesuit scholasticism
The intellectual influence of second scholasticism was augmented by the establishment of the
Society of Jesus
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
(1540), by
Ignatius Loyola
Ignatius of Loyola, S.J. (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; eu, Ignazio Loiolakoa; es, Ignacio de Loyola; la, Ignatius de Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian, ...
, per approval of
Pope Paul III. The "Jesuits" are considered a third "school" of second scholasticism, although this refers more to the common style of academic work rather than to some common doctrine. The important figures include
Pedro da Fonseca, Antonio Rubio, the
Conimbricenses
The Conimbricenses were an important collection of Jesuit commentaries on Aristotle compiled at University of Coimbra in Coimbra, Portugal.
Commentaries
The Coimbra Commentaries, also known as the Conimbricenses or Cursus Conimbricenses, are a ...
,
Robert Bellarmine
Robert Bellarmine, SJ ( it, Roberto Francesco Romolo Bellarmino; 4 October 1542 – 17 September 1621) was an Italian Jesuit and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was canonized a saint in 1930 and named Doctor of the Church, one of only 37. ...
,
Francisco Suárez,
Luis de Molina
Luis de Molina (29 September 1535 – 12 October 1600) was a Spanish Jesuit Catholic priest, priest and Scholasticism, scholastic, a staunch defender of free will in the controversy over human liberty and God's grace. His theology is known ...
,
Gabriel Vásquez,
Pedro Hurtado de Mendoza Pedro Hurtado de Mendoza (1578, Balmaseda – November 10, 1641, Madrid) was a Basque people, Basque scholastic philosophy, philosopher and theology, theologian.
Philosophical work
He was a teacher of theology and philosophy in Valladolid and he oc ...
,
Rodrigo de Arriaga
Rodrigo de Arriaga (17 January 1592 – 7 June 1667) was a Spanish philosopher, theologian and Jesuit. He is known as one of the foremost Spanish Jesuits of his day and as a leading representative of post- Suárezian baroque Jesuit nominalism.
...
, and many others.
There were also many "independent" thinkers like
Sebastián Izquierdo,
Juan Caramuel y Lobkowicz,
Kenelm Digby
Sir Kenelm Digby (11 July 1603 – 11 June 1665) was an English courtier and diplomat. He was also a highly reputed natural philosopher, astrologer and known as a leading Roman Catholic intellectual and Blackloist. For his versatility, he is d ...
,
Raffael Aversa etc.
Decline and legacy
The golden age of Second Scholasticism was the first decades of the 17th century, at which time it was still largely in control of university curricula in philosophy.
[R. Ariew and D. Gabbay, "The scholastic background", in ''Cambridge History of Seventeenth Century Philosophy'', ed. D. Garber and M. Ayers (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998), ch. 15.] But second scholasticism started to decline under the attacks of philosophers writing in vernacular languages, such as
Descartes,
Pascal and
Locke, and from the competition from more experimental and mathematical ways of doing science promoted by the
Scientific Revolution
The Scientific Revolution was a series of events that marked the emergence of modern science during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology (including human anatomy) and chemistry transfo ...
. It was largely dormant from the onset of Enlightenment in the end of the 17th century, although scholastics such as Suarez remained influential for a long period. In some Iberian universities the scholastic culture remained vivid well into the 19th century, providing background for the birth of
Neo-Scholasticism.
Interest in the thought of the late scholastics has been recently revived by the journal
Studia Neoaristotelica.
See also
*
Scholasticism
*
School of Salamanca
The School of Salamanca ( es, Escuela de Salamanca) is the Renaissance of thought in diverse intellectual areas by Spanish theologians, rooted in the intellectual and pedagogical work of Francisco de Vitoria. From the beginning of the 16th cen ...
References
{{reflist
Bibliography
* Manlio Bellomo, ''The Common Legal Past of Europe, 1000-1800'', Washington, D.C. The Catholic University of America Press, 1995.
*
Josef Bordat and Johanna M. Baboukis, "Late Scholasticism". In: ''Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History''. New York 2009.
* James Franklin
"Science by Conceptual Analysis: The Genius of the Late Scholastics" ''Studia Neoaristotelica'' 9 (2012), 3–24.
* James Gordley, ''The Philosophical Origins of Modern Contract Doctrine'', Clarendon Press, Oxford 1991, ch. 3.
* Paolo Grossi, ''La Seconda scolastica nella formazione del diritto privato moderno'', Giuffrè, Milan, 1973.
*
Anneliese Maier
Anneliese Maier (; November 17, 1905 in Tübingen, Germany – December, 1971 in Rome, Italy) was a German historian of science particularly known for her work researching natural philosophy in the middle ages.
Biography
Anneliese Maier was th ...
(1949–58) ''Studien zur Naturphilosophe der Spätscholastik'', 5 Bande
* Daniel D. Novotný
"In defense of Baroque scholasticism" ''Studia Neoaristotelica'' 6 (2009), 209–233.
* Daniel D. Novotný, ''Ens rationis from Suárez to Caramuel: A Study in Scholasticism of the Baroque Era'', New York, Fordham University Press, 2013.
*Daniel Schwartz, The Political Morality of the Late Scholastics: Civic Life, War and Conscience, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.
External links
Scholasticon by Jacob SchmutzOnline Resources for the study of early-modern scholasticism (1500–1800): authors, sources, institutions
Scholasticism