Descartes’s Meditations on First Philosophy, regarded by many as his masterpiece, has been the subject of significant philosophical debate since its publication in 1641. Yet the Meditations is remarkable not only for its philosophical ideas but also for the style in which it was written. Two of the most notable stylistic elements of the Meditations are the use of temporal markers—a significant departure from analogous philosophical treatises of the same period—and the fact that the text is written in such a (...) way as to invite readers to subsume themselves into the role of the narrator, so as to experience its arguments for themselves. Many commentators have hinted at the importance of the narrator. But there has been little attempt at a sustained engagement. The function of the text as a series of days of meditation has also been insufficiently explored. In order to further investigate the roles of time and narrative within the Meditations, this thesis uses various reading methods provided by narrative theory, with particular focus on Monika Fludernik’s experiential model of narrative. Fludernik’s model allows for a clearer articulation of the role readers play in enacting meaning, and the way in which readers will in a sense “author” a text on their own terms. Reading the Meditations as an experiential narrative also illuminates significant issues to do with Descartes’s distinction between geometric and discursive argument, his conception of time, the specific expression of the Cogito in the Meditations, and the “reorientation” at the heart of the text—which I am calling a sort of conversion. The conversion at the heart of the Meditations will be explored in parallel with Saint Augustine’s Confessions and Saint Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises, two texts which—like the Meditations—can be thought of as experiential narratives designed to bring about some kind of conversion. I argue that such an experiential reading, drawing on the roles of time and narrative in the text, offers to enrich our understanding of the Meditations. (shrink)

This paper critiques a narrative concerning causality in later scholasticism due to, among others, Des Chene, Carraud, Schmaltz, Schmid, and Pasnau. On this account, internal developments in the scholastic tradition culminating in Suárez lead to the efficient cause being regarded as the paradigmatic kind of cause, anticipating a view explicitly held by the Cartesians. Focusing on Suárez and his scholastic reception, I defend the following claims: a) Suárez’s definition of cause does not privilege efficient causation; b) Suárez’s readers, from Timpler (...) to Arriaga, did not interpret him as privileging efficient causation; c) it is only much later, in Clauberg, that we find a narrowing of the meaning of causation to efficient causal action; but d) this shift is better explained by Clauberg’s rejection of substance hylomorphism in favor of Descartes’s doctrine of substance, rather than by any troubles within the Aristotelian causal framework. (shrink)

Este estudio analiza los principales temas relativos a la doctrina de la guerra justa en el pensamiento y en la obra del teólogo jesuita español Francisco Suárez que, como se sabe, ha contribuido notablemente al nacimiento del derecho inter nationes, característico de la edad moderna. La profundización de este autor –por medio del análisis de las fuentes y su hermenéutica comparada– puede, en efecto, ofrecer importantes trazos para elaborar también una respuesta a la pregunta actual de si puede existir una (...) “guerra justa” y si puede o debe darse una “guerra humanitaria”. Este autor afrontó con gran atención en su producción filosófica, entre otros, el tema de la licitud o deber, o no, de la intervención bélica preventiva para socorrer a los inocentes, además de la cuestión de la posibilidad de una eventual guerra que sea “justa” para ambas partes en conflicto. Dentro de la tradición cristiana, la reflexión sobre la guerra y sobre su licitud podía ya valerse de las contribuciones fundamentales ofrecidas por diversos “clásicos” del pensamiento, entre los cuales están Agustín, Isidoro de Sevilla y Tomás de Aquino, aunque tanto Francisco de Vitoria como Francisco Suárez en el siglo XVI fueron llamados a desarrollar su reflexión en un contexto nuevo, caracterizado en cualquier caso por una situación internacional que se estaba trasformando notablemente, y con cuya doctrina “tradicional” sobre la guerra debía entendérselas. Se estaba ya en un escenario político en el que sobre la escena europea se estaba afirmando imparablemente el “Estado moderno” y las naciones no estaban ya dispuestas a someterse al juicio del emperador o del papa para saber cuál de los contendientes llevaba una guerra verdaderamente “justa”. En tal contexto se desarrolló el pensamiento del teólogo jesuita, que se manifiesta sobre todo en la disputatio De bello, de la cual, tras haber presentado algunas notas de contexto, este estudio ofrece los principales elementos. (shrink)

Este estudio se propone destacar los resultados ofrecidos en la edición crítica y traducción portuguesa del libro De Legibus Uvm I Da Ley em Geral de F. Suárez, a cargo del mancomunado esfuerzo de investigadores lusos contemporáneos, quienes examinaron esa Obra de jurisprudencia nacida de las lecciones que F. Suárez diera desde 1601-3 y que plasmara en la edición original del tratado de Coimbra en 1612. Subrayo aspectos de la doctrina política que dejarán al descubierto un Suárez plura novavit, influyente (...) en la conformación moderna de la republica democrática. This paper calis the attention on the outcome of the research offered in the critical edition and Portuguese translation of the book De Legibus Livro I Da Ley em Geral de F. Suárez, done by the joint effort of contemporary Researchers, who examined that work of jurisprudence born of the lectures that Suarez gave around 1601-3, and that resulted in the original 1612 edition of the Coimbra treatise. I underline aspects of the political doctrine, which exposes a plura novavit-Suarez that promote a new form of the political regimes and influence in the shaping of the modern democratic republic. (shrink)