| Summary: |
This Project analyses the origin of the doctrine of middle knowledge in the 16th century in the intellectual milieu of the teaching of Philosophy and Theology, at the universities of Coimbra and Évora. The formulation of the research hypothesis stems from a study recently conducted by the IR on Peter Fonseca's doctrine of middle knowledge. Taking into account the existing controversy among scholars on the authorship of middle knowledge doctrine - whether it is originated from Luis de Molina or from Peter Fonseca the project research hypothesis is as follows: the general idea of the existence in God of a middle knowledge circulated among teachers and students in the Jesuit colleges of Coimbra and Évora between 1555-1566, i.e., before Molina and Fonseca wrote about that doctrine. The confirmation of this hypothesis will be examined from the analysis of the 16th century manuscripts textbooks on the teaching of philosophy and theology in Coimbra and Évora. The most relevant texts where the doctrines analysed in the project can be found are commentaries either on Aristotle's Peri Hermeneias or on Metaphysics, on Aquinas' Summa of Theology and on Scotus' Sentences. The main project goals are the following: to identify the genesis of the doctrine of middle knowledge in the 16th century in the academic environment of Coimbra and Évora; to review the problem of its authorship in the light of the theories that circulated at that time, prior to Fonseca and Molina's works; to study Fonseca's arguments on middle knowledge in a systematic way. As mentioned, so as to achieve these goals, the project analyses unpublished and still unexplored manuscripts textbooks that contain commentaries on Aristotle, Aquinas and Scotus produced in Coimbra and Évora in the 16th century. These commentaries constitute a highly relevant intellectual legacy since they contain important theories about the nature of human freedom, contingent futures and divine scie  |
Summary
This Project analyses the origin of the doctrine of middle knowledge in the 16th century in the intellectual milieu of the teaching of Philosophy and Theology, at the universities of Coimbra and Évora. The formulation of the research hypothesis stems from a study recently conducted by the IR on Peter Fonseca's doctrine of middle knowledge. Taking into account the existing controversy among scholars on the authorship of middle knowledge doctrine - whether it is originated from Luis de Molina or from Peter Fonseca the project research hypothesis is as follows: the general idea of the existence in God of a middle knowledge circulated among teachers and students in the Jesuit colleges of Coimbra and Évora between 1555-1566, i.e., before Molina and Fonseca wrote about that doctrine. The confirmation of this hypothesis will be examined from the analysis of the 16th century manuscripts textbooks on the teaching of philosophy and theology in Coimbra and Évora. The most relevant texts where the doctrines analysed in the project can be found are commentaries either on Aristotle's Peri Hermeneias or on Metaphysics, on Aquinas' Summa of Theology and on Scotus' Sentences. The main project goals are the following: to identify the genesis of the doctrine of middle knowledge in the 16th century in the academic environment of Coimbra and Évora; to review the problem of its authorship in the light of the theories that circulated at that time, prior to Fonseca and Molina's works; to study Fonseca's arguments on middle knowledge in a systematic way. As mentioned, so as to achieve these goals, the project analyses unpublished and still unexplored manuscripts textbooks that contain commentaries on Aristotle, Aquinas and Scotus produced in Coimbra and Évora in the 16th century. These commentaries constitute a highly relevant intellectual legacy since they contain important theories about the nature of human freedom, contingent futures and divine science. These theories had a strong impact on modernity in the fields of philosophy of man and metaphysics. Expected innovative results are as such: 1. To understand the doctrines on the problem of contingent futures, human freedom and divine science debated in the 16th century, in the colleges of Coimbra and Évora; 2. To shed light on the question of the authorship of the doctrine of middle knowledge; 3. To publish unexplored and unknown manuscript sources, preserved from 16th-century Latin textbooks; 4. To translate and publish relevant texts on middle knowledge by Fonseca; 5. To disseminate the results of research at a national and international level; 6. To make available in open access these results. This exploratory project is part of an ongoing research at the Institute of Philosophy. It is closely connected to the research carried out in the Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy Thematic Line (MEMP-TL) led by José Meirinhos; and in the RG Aristotelica Portugalensia led by Paula Oliveira e Silva and João Rebalde within MEMP-TL. The project also improves knowledge achieved in following projects, already finished: Critical Edition and Study of the Works Attributed do Petrus Hispanus - 1 (IR: J. Meirinhos; PTDC/MHC-FIL/0216/2014); Animal Rationale Mortale. The relationship body-soul in the Commentaries on Aristotle's De anima produced in the Portuguese Universities of the XVI century (IR: P. Oliveira e Silva; EXPL/MHC-FIL/1703/2012); Iberian Scholastic Philosophy at the Crossroads of Western Reason: The Reception of Aristotle and the Transition to Modernity (IR: J. Meirinhos; PTDC/FIL-FIL/109889/2009) |