Francisco Suárez’s Influence on Protestant Scholasticism

Suárezove Metafizičke disputacije postigle su nevjerojatan uspjeh. Popularnost je bila osobito velika u reformacijskim sredinama. Osim Melanchthonova utjecaja, u prvoj fazi prevladavao je utjecaj humanista i Ramusa, no na prijelazu iz 16. u 17. stoljeće na protestantskim se sveučilištima obnavlja aristotelizam. Kada je 1600. prvi put u Njemačkoj tiskano Suárezovo djelo Metafizičke disputacije, kalvinistički i luteranski filozofi i teolozi potpuno su se otvorili prema isusovačkoj metafizici. Bez Suárezova utjecaja nezamisliva je protestantska Schulmetaphysik. Glavni razlog recepcije bila je potreba za metafizikom u teološkim raspravama. Lutherovo načelo sola scriptura bilo je dostatno za čvrstoću vjere, ali je u teološkim kontroverzama tražilo metafizičke dopune. Suárezov priručnik metafizike nametnuo se svim kršćanskim konfesijama kao dobro polazište za rasprave. Pod utjecajem njegovih ideja utemeljili su kalvinisti Rudolf Göckel i Clemens Timpler epistemološki orijentiranu metafiziku koja se primarno bavi mislivim kao mislivim, a biće se shvaća kao podudarno s mislivim. S druge strane Christoph Scheibler presudno je utjecao na luteransku tradiciju koja metafiziku shvaća kao znanost o biću kao biću, ali istovremeno podjelu bića obrazlaže epistemološki. Višestruke varijacije između tih dvaju stajališta postaju tipične za njemačku Schulmetaphysik.Francisco Suárez’s Metaphysical Disputations achieved incredible success, his popularity being especially great in Protestant countries. Though he was influenced by Melanchthon, the influence of the Humanists and Ramus was predominant in his early period; however, in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Protestant universities saw a renewal of the Aristotlean tradition. After the first German edition of Suárez’s Metaphysical Disputations in 1600, Calvinist and Lutheran philosophers opened themselves up completely to Jesuit metaphysics. Without Suárez’s influence, the Protestant Schulmetaphysic is unthinkable. The main reason for such a reception was the need for metaphyics in theological discussion. Luther’s principle sola scriptura was sufficient for a strength of faith, but theological controversies sought speculative arguments. Suárez’s handbook of metaphysics, with its rationality and clarity, imposed itself upon all Christian confessions as a good starting point for discussion. Under the influence of Suárezian ideas, Calvinists Rudolf Göckel and Clemens Timpler established an epistemologically oriented metaphysics which dealt primarly with the thinkable as thinkable, whereby being is equated to the thinkable. On the other hand, Christoph Scheibler’s influence upon the Lutheran tradition was crucial, for it understood metaphysics as the science of being as being with an epistemologically justified division of being into real, ideal and transcendental. Multiple variations of these two positions have become typical for the German Schulmetaphysik