Francisco Suárez (5 January 1548 – 25 September
1617) was a Spanish Jesuit priest, philosopher
and theologian, one of the leading figures
of the School of Salamanca movement, and generally
regarded among the greatest scholastics after
Thomas Aquinas. His work is considered a turning
point in the history of second scholasticism,
marking the transition from its Renaissance
to its Baroque phases. According to Christopher
Shields and Daniel Schwartz, "figures as distinct
from one another in place, time, and philosophical
orientation as Leibniz, Grotius, Pufendorf,
Schopenhauer, and Heidegger, all found reason
to cite him as a source of inspiration and
influence."
== Life and career ==
Of Jewish (converso) origins, Francisco Suárez
was born in Granada, Andalusia (southern Spain),
on 5 January 1548.
After 3 years of preliminary studies from
age 10 onwards, in 1561 Suárez matriculated
at the University of Salamanca, and studied
Law. In 1564, at age sixteen, Suárez entered
the Society of Jesus in Salamanca and went
through the two years of intense spiritual
training under the guidance of Fr Alonso Rodriguez.
In August 1566, Suárez took his first vows
as a Jesuit; he then began in October 1566
to study Theology at Salamanca. It seems he
was not a promising student at first; in fact,
he nearly gave up his matters of study after
failing the entrance exam twice. After passing
the exam at third attempt, though, things
changed.
In 1570, with the completion of his course,
Suárez began to teach Philosophy, first at
Salamanca as a Scholastic tutor, and then
as a professor in the Jesuit college at Segovia.
He was ordained in March 1572 in Segovia.
He continued to teach Philosophy in Segovia
until, in September 1574, he moved to the
Jesuit College in Valladolid to teach Theology,
a subject he would then teach for the rest
of his life. He taught in a succession of
different places: Avila (1575), Segovia (1575),
Valladolid (1576) Rome (1580–85), Alcalá
(1585–92) and Salamanca (1592–97). In
1597, he moved to Coimbra, some years after
the accession of the Spanish (elder line)
House of Habsburg to the Portuguese Throne,
to take up the principal chair of Theology
at the University of Coimbra. He remained
there, aside from a brief time teaching at
Rome, until his death in 1617.
He wrote on a wide variety of subjects, producing
a vast amount of work (his complete works
in Latin amount to twenty-six volumes). Suárez
writings include treatises on law, the relationship
between Church and State, metaphysics, and
theology. He is considered the godfather of
International Law. His Disputationes metaphysicae
(Metaphysical Disputations) were widely read
in Europe during the 17th century and are
considered by some scholars to be his most
profound work.
Suárez was regarded during his lifetime as
being the greatest living philosopher and
theologian, and given the nickname Doctor
Eximius et Pius ("Exceptional and Pious Doctor");
Pope Gregory XIII attended his first lecture
in Rome. Pope Paul V invited him to refute
the arguments of James I of England, and wished
to retain him near his person, to profit by
his knowledge. Philip II of Spain sent him
to the University of Coimbra in order to give
it prestige, and when Suárez visited the
University of Barcelona, the doctors of the
university went out to meet him wearing the
insignia of their faculties.
After his death in Portugal (in either Lisbon
or Coimbra) his reputation grew still greater,
and he had a direct influence on such leading
philosophers as Hugo Grotius, René Descartes,
John Norris, and Gottfried Leibniz.
In 1679 Pope Innocent XI publicly condemned
sixty-five casuist propositions, taken chiefly
from the writings of Escobar, Suárez and
others, mostly Jesuit, theologians as propositiones
laxorum moralistarum and forbade anyone to
teach them under penalty of excommunication.
== Philosophical thought ==
His most important philosophical achievements
were in metaphysics and the philosophy of
law. Suárez may be considered the last eminent
representative of scholasticism. He adhered
to a moderate form of Thomism and developed
metaphysics as a systematic enquiry.
=== Metaphysics ===
For Suárez, metaphysics was the science of
real essences (and existence); it was mostly
concerned with real being rather than conceptual
being, and with immaterial rather than with
material being. He held (along with earlier
scholastics) that essence and existence are
the same in the case of God (see ontological
argument), but disagreed with Aquinas and
others that the essence and existence of finite
beings are really distinct. He argued that
in fact they are merely conceptually distinct:
rather than being really separable, they can
only logically be conceived as separate.
On the vexed subject of universals, he endeavored
to steer a middle course between the realism
of Duns Scotus and the nominalism of William
of Occam. His position is a little bit closer
to nominalism than that of Thomas Aquinas.
Sometimes he is classified as a moderate nominalist,
but his admitting of objective precision (praecisio
obiectiva) ranks him with moderate realists.
The only veritable and real unity in the world
of existences is the individual; to assert
that the universal exists separately ex parte
rei would be to reduce individuals to mere
accidents of one indivisible form. Suárez
maintains that, though the humanity of Socrates
does not differ from that of Plato, yet they
do not constitute realiter one and the same
humanity; there are as many "formal unities"
(in this case, humanities) as there are individuals,
and these individuals do not constitute a
factual, but only an essential or ideal unity
("In such a way, that many individuals, which
are said to be of the same nature, are so:
only through the operation of the intellect,
not through a substance or essence of things
which unites them"). The formal unity, however,
is not an arbitrary creation of the mind,
but exists "in the nature of the thing, prior
[ontologically] to any operation of the intellect".His
metaphysical work, giving a remarkable effort
of systematisation, is a real history of medieval
thought, combining the three schools available
at that time: Thomism, Scotism and Nominalism.
He is also a deep commentator of Arabic or
high medieval works. He enjoyed the reputation
of being the greatest metaphysician of his
time. He thus founded a school of his own,
Suarism or Suarezianism, the chief characteristic
principles of which are:
the principle of individuation by the proper
concrete entity of beings
the rejection of pure potentiality of matter
the singular as the object of direct intellectual
cognition
a distinctio rationis ratiocinatae between
the essence and the existence of created beings
the possibility of spiritual substance only
numerically distinct from one another
ambition for the hypostatic union as the sin
of the fallen angels
the Incarnation of the Word, even if Adam
had not sinned
the solemnity of the vow only in ecclesiastical
law
the system of Congruism that modifies Molinism
by the introduction of subjective circumstances,
as well as of place and of time, propitious
to the action of efficacious grace, and with
predestination ante praevisa merita
the possibility of holding one and the same
truth by both science and faith
the belief in Divine authority contained in
an act of faith
the production of the body and blood of Christ
by transubstantiation as constituting the
Eucharistic sacrifice
the final grace of the Blessed Virgin Mary
superior to that of the angels and saints
combined.Suárez made an important investigation
of being, its properties and division in Disputationes
Metaphysicae (1597), which influenced the
further development of theology within Catholicism.
In the second part of the book, disputations
28-53, Suárez fixes the distinction between
ens infinitum (God) and ens finitum (created
beings). The first division of being is that
between ens infinitum and ens finitum. Instead
of dividing being into infinite and finite,
it can also be divided into ens a se and ens
ab alio, i.e., being that is from itself and
being that is from another. A second distinction
corresponding to this one:ens necessarium
and ens contingens, i.e., necessary being
and contingent being. Still another formulation
of the distinction is between ens per essentiam
and ens per participationem, i.e., being that
exists by reason of its essence and being
that exists only by participation in a being
that exists on its own (eigentlich). A further
distinction is between ens increatum and ens
creatum, i.e., uncreated being and created,
or creaturely, being. A final distinction
is between being as actus purus and being
as ens potentiale, i.e., being as pure actuality
and being as potential being. Suárez decided
in favor of the first classification of the
being into ens infinitum and ens finitum as
the most fundamental, in connection with which
he accords the other classifications their
due. In the last disputation 54 Suárez deals
with entia rationis (beings of reason), which
are impossible intentional objects, i.e. objects
that are created by our minds but cannot exist
in actual reality.
=== Theology ===
In theology, Suárez attached himself to the
doctrine of Luis Molina, the celebrated Jesuit
professor of Évora. Molina tried to reconcile
the doctrine of predestination with the freedom
of the human will and the predestinarian teachings
of the Dominicans by saying that the predestination
is consequent upon God's foreknowledge of
the free determination of man's will, which
is therefore in no way affected by the fact
of such predestination. Suárez endeavoured
to reconcile this view with the more orthodox
doctrines of the efficacy of grace and special
election, maintaining that, though all share
in an absolutely sufficient grace, there is
granted to the elect a grace which is so adapted
to their peculiar dispositions and circumstances
that they infallibly, though at the same time
quite freely, yield themselves to its influence.
This mediatizing system was known by the name
of "congruism."
=== Philosophy of law ===
Here, Suárez's main importance stems probably
from his work on natural law, and from his
arguments concerning positive law and the
status of a monarch. In his massive work,
Tractatus de legibus ac deo legislatore (1612),
he is to some extent the precursor of Grotius
and Pufendorf, in making an important distinction
between natural law and international law,
which he saw as based on custom. Though his
method is throughout scholastic, he covers
the same ground, and Grotius speaks of him
with great respect. The fundamental position
of the work is that all legislative as well
as all paternal power is derived from God,
and that the authority of every law stems
ultimately from God's eternal law. Suárez
denies the patriarchal theory of government
and the divine right of kings founded upon
it, doctrines popular at that time in England
and to some extent on the Continent. He argued
against the sort of social contract theory
that became dominant among early-modern political
philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes and John
Locke, but some of his thinking, as transmitted
by Grotius, found echoes in later liberal
political theory.
He argued that human beings have a social
nature bestowed upon them by God, and this
includes the potential to make laws. However,
when a political society is formed, the authority
of the state is not of divine but of human
origin; therefore, its nature is chosen by
the people involved, and their natural legislative
power is given to the ruler. Because they
gave this power, they have the right to take
it back and to revolt against a ruler, only
if the ruler behaves badly towards them, and
they must act moderately and justly. In particular,
the people must refrain from killing the ruler,
no matter how tyrannical he may have become.
If a government is imposed on people, on the
other hand, they have the right to defend
themselves by revolting against it and even
kill the tyrannical ruler.Though Suárez was
greatly influenced by Aquinas in his philosophy
of law, there are some notable differences.
Aquinas broadly defined "law" as "a rule and
measure acts, whereby man is induced to act
or is restrained from acting" (ST 1-11, qu.
90, art. 1). Suárez argues that this definition
is too broad, since it applies to things that
are not strictly laws, such as unjust ordinances
and counsels of perfection. Suárez also takes
issue with Aquinas' more formal definition
of "law" as "an ordinance of reason for the
common good, made by him who has care of the
community, and promulgated" (ST 1-11, qu.
90, art. 4). This definition, he claims, fails
to recognize that law is primarily an act
of will rather than an act of reason, and
would wrongly count orders to particular individuals
as being laws. Finally, Suárez disagrees
with Aquinas's claim that God can change or
suspend some of the secondary precepts of
the natural law, such as the prohibitions
on murder, theft, and adultery (ST 1-11, qu.
94, art. 5). Suárez argues that the natural
law is immutable as long as human nature remains
unchanged, and that what may appear to be
divinely-made changes in the natural law are
really just alterations of subject matter.
For example, when God orders Hosea to take
a "wife of fornications" (i.e., sleep with
a prostitute), this is not an exemption from
God's prohibition of adultery. "For God has
power to transfer to a man dominium over a
woman without her consent, and to effect such
a bond between them that, by virtue of this
bond, the union is no longer one of fornication."In
1613, at the instigation of Pope Paul V, Suárez
wrote a treatise dedicated to the Christian
princes of Europe, entitled Defensio catholicae
fidei contra anglicanae sectae errores ("Defense
of the Universal Catholic Faith Against the
Errors of the Anglican Sect"). This was directed
against the oath of allegiance which James
I required from his subjects.
James (himself a talented scholar) caused
it to be burned by the common hangman and
forbade its perusal under the 'severest penalties,
complaining bitterly to Philip III of Spain
for harbouring in his dominions a declared
enemy of the throne and majesty of kings.
== Influence ==
The contributions of Suarez to metaphysics
and theology exerted significant influence
over 17th and 18th century scholastic theology
among both Roman Catholics and Protestants.Thanks
in part to the strength of Suárez's Jesuit
order, his Disputationes Metaphysicae was
widely taught in the Catholic schools of Spain,
Portugal and Italy.
It also spread from these schools to many
Lutheran universities in Germany, where the
text was studied especially by those who favoured
Melanchthon rather than Luther's attitude
towards philosophy. In a number of seventeenth-century
Lutheran universities the Disputationes served
as a textbook in philosophy.
In a similar way, Suárez had major influence
in the Reformed tradition of German and Dutch
schools for both metaphysics and law, including
international law. His work was highly praised,
for example, by Hugo Grotius (1583-1645).
His influence is evident in the writings of
Bartholomaeus Keckermann (1571–1609), Clemens
Timpler (1563–1624), Gilbertus Jacchaeus
(1578–1628), Johann Heinrich Alsted (1588–1638),
Antonius Walaeus (1573–1639), and Johannes
Maccovius (Jan Makowski; 1588–1644), among
others. This influence was so pervasive that
by 1643 it provoked the Dutch Reformed theologian
Jacobus Revius to publish his book-length
response: Suarez repurgatus. Suárez's De
legibus was cited as among the best books
on law by the Puritan Richard Baxter, and
Baxter's friend Matthew Hale drew on it for
his natural-law theory.
== Criticism ==
The views of Suarez upon the human origin
of political order, and his defense of tyrannicide
emanating from popular dissent were heavily
criticized by English philosopher Robert Filmer
in his work Patriarcha, Or the Natural Power
of Kings. Filmer believed the Calvinists and
the Papists like Suarez to be dangerous opponents
of divine right monarchy, legitimized by the
supremacy of fathers upon their offspring,
which Filmer claimed could be traced back
to Adam.
== Main works ==
De Incarnatione (1590-1592)
De sacramentis (1593-1603)
Disputationes metaphysicae (1597)
De divina substantia eiusque attributis (1606)
De divina praedestinatione et reprobatione
(1606)
De sanctissimo Trinitatis mysterio (1606)
De religione (1608-1625)
De legibus (1612)
Defensio fidei (1613)
De gratia (1619)
De angelis (1620)
De opere sex dierum (1621)
De anima (1621)
De fide, spe et charitate (1622)
De ultimo fine hominis (1628)In the 18th century,
the Venice edition of Opera Omnia in 23 volumes
in folio (1740–1751) appeared, followed
by the Parisian Vivès edition, 26 volumes
+ 2 volumes of indices (1856–1861); in 1965
the Vivés edition of the Disputationes Metaphysicae
(volls. 25-26) was reprinted by Georg Olms,
Hildesheim.
From 1597 to 1636 the Disputationes Metaphysicae
were published in seventeen editions; no modern
edition of Suárez's complete works is yet
available and only few of Suárez's Disputations
have been translated into English.
== See also ==
Giovanni Botero
Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz
Jurisprudence
Alphonsus Liguori
Juan de Mariana
Political philosophy
School of Salamanca
Rule according to higher law
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Aertsen, Jan, Medieval Philosophy as Transcendental
Thought. From Philip the Chancellor (Ca. 1225)
to Francisco Suárez, Leiden: Brill.
Aho, Tuomo, Suárez on Cognitive Intentions,
in: Paul.J.J.M. Bakker and Johannes M.M.H.
Thijssen, (eds.), Mind, Cognition and Representation.
The Tradition of Commentaries on Aristotle's
De anima, Ashgate Studies in Medieval Philosophy,
2007, pp. 179–203.
Castellote, Salvador, Die Anthropologie des
Suárez (Symposion 8) Freiburg/München: Karl
Alber, 2. Ed. 1982, 207 pp.
Castellote, Salvador, Die Kategorienlehre
des Suárez: Relatio, actio, passio. Mit einer
Einleitung über die Grundzüge seines metaphysischen
Systems, Verona: Aeme Edizioni, 2011, 233
pp.
Doyle John P. Collected Studies on Francisco
Suárez S.J. (1548–1617), edited by Victor
M. Salas, Leuven: Leuven University Press,
2010.
Fichter, Joseph H. Man of Spain: Francis Suarez.
New York: Macmillan, 1940.
Goczał, Robert, Onto-Teo-Logia. Status bytu
realnego i myślnego w metafizyce Francisco
Suáreza / Onto-Teo-Logia. The Status of Real
Being and Being of Reason in the Metaphysics
by Francis Suárez, Warszawa (Warsaw): Warszawska
Firma Wydawnicza, 2011, 543 pp.
Gracia, Jorge J. E. Suárez on Individuation:
Metaphysical Disputation V, Individual Unity
and Its Principle, Milwaukee: Marquette University
Press, 2000.
Hill, Benjamin & Lagerlund Henrik, (eds.)
The Philosophy of Francisco Suarez New York:
Oxford University Press 2012.
Marschler, Thomas, Die spekulative Trinitätslehre
des Francisco Suárez SJ in ihrem philosophisch-theologischen
Kontext, Münster: Aschendorff 2007.
Mullaney, Thomas U. (1950), Suarez on Human
Freedom, Baltimore: Carroll Press. [1]
Novák, Lukáš (ed.), Suárez’s Metaphysics
in Its Historical and Systematic Context,
Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2014.
Novotný, Daniel D., Ens rationis from Suárez
to Caramuel A Study in Scholasticism of the
Baroque Era, New York: Fordham University
Press, 2013, 296 pp.
Pereira, José, Suarez between Scholasticism
and Modernity, Milwaukee: Marquette University
Press, 2006.
Renemann, Michael, Gedanken als Wirkursachen.
Francisco Suárez zur geistigen Hervorbringung,
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: B. R. Grüner, 2010,
173 pp.
Ross, James F. "Translator's Introduction",
in On Formal and Universal Unity: De Unitate
Formali et Universali by Francis Suarez, Milwaukee:
Marquette University Press, 1964, pp. 1–27.
Salas, Victor & Fastiggi, Robert (eds.). A
Companion to Francisco Suárez, Leiden: Brill,
2015.
Sgarbi, Marco (ed.), Francisco Suárez and
his Legacy. The Impact of Suárezian Metaphysics
and Epistemology on Modern Philosophy, Milano:
Vita e Pensiero, 2010, 294 pp.
Shields, Christopher and Daniel Schwartz,
"Francisco Suárez," in The Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/suarez/.
Smith, Gerard (ed). Jesuit Thinkers of the
Renaissance. Milwaukee: Marquette University
Press 1939, pp. 1–62.
Suárez, Francisco (1995), trans., Gwladys
L. Williams, Ammi Brown, and John Waldron,
Selections from Three Works by Francisco Suárez,
S.J.: "De legibus, ac deo legislatore", 1612;
"Defensio fidei catholicae, et apostolicae
adversus anglicanae sectae errores", 1613;
"De triplici virtute theologica, fide, spe,
et charitate", 1621, Buffalo, NY: W. S. Hein.
Wroblewski, Pawel P. Arystotelesowska nauka
o nieskonczonosci w metafizycznej reinterpretacji
Francisco Suareza. Zarys problematyki / Aristotelian
doctrine of the Infinity in the metaphysical
reinterpretation of Francisco Suarez. An Outline
of Issues, in: Krzysztof Rzepkowski (ed.),
Aemulatio & Imitatio. Powrot pisarzy starozytnych
w epoce renesansu / Aemulatio & Imitatio.
The Return of the Ancient Writers in the epoque
of the Renaissance, Warszawa: Instytut Filologii
Klasycznej Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego (Warsaw:
Institute of Classical Philology, University
of Warsaw), 2009, pp. 87–100.
== External links ==
"Francisco Suárez". Internet Encyclopedia
of Philosophy.
Francisco Suárez, Disputationes Metaphysicae
(in Latin; HTML format)
Critical edition of several works of Francisco
Suárez Several works of Francisco Suárez
in a critical Edition by Prof. Salvador Castellote
(in Latin; PDF format)
Translations of three works by Prof. Alfredo
Freddoso
Suárez and Exceptionless Moral Norms
Shields, Christopher; Schwartz, Daniel. "Francisco
Suárez". In Zalta, Edward N. Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy.
General bibliography (on the SCHOLASTICON
site)
Francisco Suarez on Metaphysics as the Science
of Real Beings with an annotated bibliography
on the Metaphysical Disputations
English Translations of the Metaphysical Works
of Francisco Suárez with abstracts of the
content
"Francisco Suárez". Catholic Encyclopedia.
1913.
Information and links to online texts in Latin
and in translation by Sydney Penner (including
Opera omnia)
The religious state: a digest of the doctrine
of Suarez, contained in his treatise "De statu
religionis"(1883) in 3 volumes
Francisco Suárez in the Historical Archives
of the Pontifical Gregorian University
