Who Wants to Live Forever? Juan Maldonado and Benet Perera on the Philosophical (Im/)Possibility to Demonstrate the Soul's Immortality
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11210%2F23%3A10474527" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11210/23:10474527 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=tMffHa0Xm5" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=tMffHa0Xm5</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
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Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Who Wants to Live Forever? Juan Maldonado and Benet Perera on the Philosophical (Im/)Possibility to Demonstrate the Soul's Immortality
Original language description
In Renaissance philosophy, it is difficult to think of a more debated question than the one revolving around the soul's immortality. Such question constituted a real watershed for philosophers and divided them in two parties: those claiming that the soul's immortality can be demonstrated philosophically, in accordance with the Church's prescriptions formalized by the Papal Bull De Apostolici Regiminis (1513), and those claiming, in amore or less nuanced way, that this matter cannot be demonstrated by reason (lumine naturali) but belongs to the domain of faith only. This double approach to the truth echoes the 13th century most famous discussion around the "double truth", which identified two domains: that of philosophy alone, and that of philosophy and theology as expressing one sole truth. But is it possible to distinguish the two domains in a neat way? This paper aims to study how two 16th century Jesuits, Juan Maldonado (1533-1583) and Bento Perera (1535-1610), declined these approaches to the truth and defended it in their courses. Their positions are very different. For Maldonado there seems to be no doubt that truths of faith can be demonstrated philosophically, while for Perera, as it is well known to specialists, things are slightly different: the Jesuit philosopher seems to be fascinated by Arabic philosophers, more particularly, by the absurdissima opinio of monopsychism, to which he dedicates abundant digressions and explanations. Despiteof Perera's reputation as an Averroist, and as a "rebel Jesuit", censored by his superiors, I will contend that at least in some of his numerous elaborations on this precise matter (Roma, Vallicelliana E 50 and 104; Vatican City, Urb. Lat. 1300) his words are more confused than clear, and less original than Maldonado's. Perera in fact does not seem to take a clearcut position on the possibility to demonstrate the soul's immortality, nor does he make a consistent use of the sources he mentions. What kind of account of the human soul did both Jesuits want to transmit intheir teaching? What account of the intellect did spring from it? These are two of the main questions this paper aims to reply.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>ost</sub> - Miscellaneous article in a specialist periodical
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
60301 - Philosophy, History and Philosophy of science and technology
Result continuities
Project
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Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2023
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Studi Sull’Aristotelismo Medievale (secoli VI-XVI)
ISSN
2785-5066
e-ISSN
2974-7198
Volume of the periodical
3
Issue of the periodical within the volume
2023/3
Country of publishing house
IT - ITALY
Number of pages
44
Pages from-to
255-298
UT code for WoS article
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EID of the result in the Scopus database
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