THE CONIMBRICENSES: THE LAST SCHOLASTICS, THE FIRST MODERNS OR SOMETHING IN BETWEEN? THE IMPACT OF GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES ON LATE 16TH CENTURY JESUIT

Cristóvão S. Marinheiro

Luís António Verney (1713–1792) asserted in his De re metaphysica libri quatuor ad usum Lusitanorum Adolescentium of 1765 that all that scholastic had in common with was the attributive adjective “Aristotelian”.1 A robust conviction such as this could hardly lead to a more merciful judgment when he discussed the Jesuit commentators on Aristotle who took medieval as a model and tried to develop it further. The Jesuit commentaries are only quoted twice in this work, and only in order to be refuted. Verney’s view has to be seen within its 18th century context. The political power of the Jesuits was unsurpassable. By the middle of the 18th century their monopoly on education in the colonies and on higher education in the mainland was overwhelming. Moreover, the Jesuits had the exclusive right to teach Latin and philosophy in the College of Arts (Colégio das Artes) in Coimbra,2 the only school that prepared students to theology, canonical and civil law, as well as medi- cine at Coimbra University,3 a privilege given them by King João III (1502–1557) in 1555.4 This power would gradually be eroded over the next two centuries. The issues the country was confronted with were no longer the Reformation and the reestablishment of Aristotelian philosophy.5 The campaign initiated by Verney in 1746 finally led to

1 Verney L.A., Metafísica (Coimbra: 2008) 58: ‘Scholasticorum itaque Metaphysica, etiamsi ‘Aristotelica’ nominetur, nihil minus est quam Aristotelica, nec nisi rerum nomina Aristotelica commune habet, quod vel ex sola opinionum Aristotelis cum scholasticorum sententiis comparatione manifestum fit’. 2 Sometimes also referred as Royal College (Colégio Real), cf. Rodrigues F., História da Companhia de Jesus na Assistência de Portugal 1 (Oporto: 1931) 336. 3 Maxwell K., O Marquês de Pombal (Lisbon: 2001) 29. 4 Rodrigues, História da Companhia de Jesus 336–373. 5 Coxito A., “Aristotelismo em Portugal. II – Séculos XVI–XVIII”, in Logos. Enci- clopédia Luso-Brasileira de Filosofia (Lisbon: 1997) 438–449. 396 cristóvão s. marinheiro the Pombaline Reforms (Reformas Pombalinas) of the University in 1772. The Jesuits were at that moment considered less as true philoso- phers than as responsible for the impediments in the advancement of learning. Although this judgment on Jesuit education is peculiar to the 18th century, it might be applied as a pars pro toto to the whole of Renais- sance philosophy. Trapped between medieval and modern philosophy, the realm of Renaissance philosophy has to be defined with respect to these two major periods. It can be variously interpreted as a develop- ment of medieval thought or as preparing modern philosophy, includ- ing the so-called scientific revolution. This consideration will guide anyone trying to introduce into any field of Renaissance learning.6 The question of novelty or traditionality of these commentaries has therefore to be considered dispassionately by focusing on punctual evidence.7 This is the reason why we chose to address this difficulty by analysing the influence of the new geographical discoveries on the Aristotelian imago mundi they continued to defend. This has been considered as a minor issue by historians of philosophy,8 as very few passages on this topic are known to exist. Historians of mathematics,9 however, drew their attention to the mathematical skills necessary to achieve such discoveries. We try to relate these discussions on philoso- phy and mathematics, as they cannot be considered independently, since they are intimately linked with the comment on the De coelo, permitting us to witness their capacity of evolving even within the Aristotelian system. Nonetheless this cannot be done adequately leaving aside the pre- liminary discussions that led to the redaction of these commentaries

6 The awareness of this problem leads scholars to consider the Renaissance not as a period but as a movement. Cf. Stefan O. (ed.), Geschichte der Philosophie in Text und Darstellung. Band 3. Renaissance und frühe Neuzeit (Stuttgart: 1984) 10; Black R. (ed.), Renaissance Thought. A Reader (London and New York: 2001) 1–20; Burke P., La Renaissance Européenne (Paris: 2000). About the transformation of medieval to Renaissance learning, cf. Tucker G.H. (ed.). Forms of the “Medieval” in the “Renais- sance”. A Multidisciplinary Exploration of a Cultural Continuum (Charlottesville: 2000). 7 The 18th century reaction to the Jesuits provoked a deep schism in the historiog- raphy of learning in Portugal, reaching its peak in the 19th century. The newer genera- tion of historians tries finally to break up this schism by punctual research. 8 Coxito A., Estudos sobre Filosofia em Portugal no século XVI (Lisbon: 2005) 17. 9 The most important scholars for our research are Ugo Baldini, Henrique Leitão and Luís Saraiva.