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FRANCISCO SUAREZ (1548-1617)

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 1061 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FRANCISCO See also:

SUAREZ (1548-1617)  , See also:Spanish theologian and philosopher, was See also:born at See also:Granada on the 5th of See also:January 1548, and educated at See also:Salamanca . Influenced by the Jesuit See also:John Ramirez he entered the Society of Jesus in 1564, and after teaching See also:philosophy at See also:Segovia, taught See also:theology at See also:Valladolid, at See also:Alcala, at Salamanca, and at See also:Rome successively . After taking his doctorate at See also:Evora, he was named by See also:Philip II. See also:principal See also:professor of theology at See also:Coimbra . See also:Suarez may be considered almost the last eminent representative of See also:scholasticism . In philosophical See also:doctrine he adhered to a moderate Thomism . On the question of universals he endeavoured to See also:steer a See also:middle course between the pantheistically inclined See also:realism of See also:Duns Scotus and the extreme See also:nominalism of See also:William of See also:Occam . The only veritable and real unity in the See also:world of existences is the individual; to assert that the universal exists separately ex See also:pane rei would be to reduce individuals to See also:mere accidents of one indivisible See also:form . Suarez maintains that, though the humanity of See also:Socrates does not differ from that of See also:Plato, yet they do not constitute realiter one and the same humanity; there are as many " formal unities " (in this See also:case, humanities) as there are individuals, and these individuals do not constitute a factual, but only an. essential or ideal unity (" ita ut plura individua, quae dicuntur esse ejusdem naturae, non sint unum quid See also:vera entitate quae sit in See also:rebus, sed solum fundamentaliter vel per intellectum ") . The formal unity,,however, is not an arbitrary creation of the mind, but exists " in natura rei ante omnem operationem intellectus." In theology, Suarez attached himself to the doctrine of Luis See also:Molina, the celebrated Jesuit professor of Evora . Molina tried to reconcile the doctrine of See also:predestination. with the freedom of the human will by saying that the, pre-destination is consequent upon See also:God's foreknowledge of the See also:free determination of See also:man's will, which is therefore in no way affected by the fact of such predestination . Suarez endeavoured to reconcile this view with the more orthodox doctrines of the efficacy of See also:grace and See also:special See also:election, maintaining that, though all See also:share in an absolutely sufficient grace, there is granted to the elect a grace which is so adapted to their See also:peculiar dispositions and circumstances that they infallibly, though at the same See also:time quite freely, yield themselves to its See also:influence . This mediatizing See also:system was known by the name of " congruism," Suarez is probably more important, however, as a philosophical jurist than as a theologian or metaphysician .

In his extensive See also:

work Tractatus de legibus ac deo legislatore (reprinted, See also:London, 1679) he is to some extent the precursor of See also:Grotius and See also:Samuel See also:Pufendorf . Though his method is throughout scholastic, he covers the same ground, and Grotius speaks of him in terms of high respect . The fundamental position of the work is that all legislative as well as all paternal See also:power is derived from God, and that the authority of every See also:law resolves itself into His . Suarez refutes the patriarchal theory of See also:government and the divine right of See also:kings founded upon it—doctrines popular at that time in See also:England and to some extent on the See also:Continent . Power by its very nature belongs to no one man but to a multitude of men; and the See also:reason is obvious, since all men are born equal . It has been pointed out that this accords well with the Jesuit policy of depreciating the royal while exalting the papal See also:prerogative . But Suarez is much more moderate on this point than a writer like See also:Mariana, approximating to the See also:modern view of the rights of ruler and ruled . In 1613, at the instigation of See also:Pope See also:Paul V., Suarez wrote a See also:treatise dedicated to the See also:Christian princes of See also:Europe, entitled Defensio catholicae fidei contra anglicanae sectae errores . This was directed against the See also:oath of See also:allegiance which See also:James I. exacted from his subjects . James caused it to be burned by the See also:common hangman, and forbade its perusal under the severest penalties, complaining bitterly at the sametime to Philip III. that he should See also:harbour in his dominions a declared enemy of the See also:throne and See also:majesty of kings . Suarez lived a very humble and See also:simple See also:life . He died after a few days' illness on the 25th of See also:September 1617 at See also:Lisbon .

The collected See also:

works of Suarez have been printed at See also:Mainz and See also:Lyons (1630), at See also:Venice (1740-1751), at See also:Besancon (1856–1862) and in the collection of the See also:Abbe See also:Migne . His life has been written by See also:Deschamps (Vita Fr . Suaresii, See also:Perpignan, 1671) . The See also:chief modern authorities are K . See also:Werner's See also:Franz Suarez u. See also:die Scholastik der letzten Jahrhunderte (See also:Regensburg, 1861), and Steckl's Geschichte See also:des Phflosophie des Mittelalters, iii . 643 seq .

End of Article: FRANCISCO SUAREZ (1548-1617)
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