Suárez, Francisco - Ontology

The metaphysics of the Spanish Jesuit Francisco Suárez (1547–1617) is mainly contained in the Metaphysical Disputations (Disputationes metaphysicae [=DM]), which he published in Salamanca in 1597. At first sight the work looks impressive: 54 disputations, with 324 sections, divided into two tomes. Its drafting was long and laborious, taking Suárez roughly 30 years to complete. The first Salamanca edition was followed by numerous reprints. Suárez’s work on the DM was articulated, accompanying him throughout his life: a long academic pilgrimage that from his early years as a lecturer in Salamanca and Segovia (1570–1574), led him to teach theology in Valladolid (1574; 1576–1580) and Ávila (1575), then to the Roman College (1580–1585), the leading institution of the Society of Jesus during the Counter-Reformation, founded in Rome by Ignatius of Loyola himself in 1551. On his return to Spain, Suárez was again a professor in Ávila (1585–1593) and Salamanca (1593–1597), before concluding his activity in Coimbra (1597–1615), the most important university in Portugal, following an appointment made directly by the King of Spain, Philip II. In his long teaching experience, Suárez mostly taught scholastic theology (theologia scholastica). Suárez himself informs us that epistemological and “foundational” instances were at the heart of the project of his DM: “Just as it is not possible to become a worthy theologian without having first laid solid metaphysical foundations, for the same reason I have always thought that, before writing the Theological Commentaries, [...] it was worth publishing this work first [...]”. [see Ratio and Discursus in DM – Engl. translation mine]. This was not an obvious choice for Suárez, even if he was Catholic and Jesuit. Here, Suárez is not simply reiterating here the ancillary role of metaphysics in theology. Rather, he proposes rebuilding theological knowledge on the concepts and categories of metaphysics, in particular those of the Aristotelian and scholastic traditions (principles/causes, substance/accident, essence/existence). At the end of the Sixteenth century, metaphysics’ scientific primacy and legitimacy had been questioned deeply. Even in the early debates within the Society of Jesus, including metaphysics among the teaching disciplines was not an obvious or simple matter [Gilbert, 2014, p. 19]. Luther – as is well known – had pronounced an interdict (ban) against some works by Aristotle, including the Metaphysics. According to Luther’s theology, original sin had introduced a wound so deep into human reason that the ultimate truth is no longer accessible to human beings. From a natural point of view, human reason is no longer capable of truth (capax veritatis). For this reason, the only admissible theology is – according to Luther – that based on the exegesis of the Holy Scriptures, not rational or philosophical theology. Conclusions drawn by the light of natural reason on the essence of reality, the origin of the world, the nature and destiny of the human soul or, even more so, the predicates and the type of causality proper to God could only be fallacious. Accordingly, Luther went so far as to condemn the entire metaphysical tradition (not only Aristotle, but also Plato) as a history of errors and sins. Not even the coming of Christ could heal the fatal inclination to error imprinted on human reason by original sin. Besides Luther’s interdict, during the Sixteenth century there were still elements (originating in Renaissance Humanism) hostile to metaphysics. To these was added the advent of philosophies which, like Ramism, included clear anti-metaphysical instances, such as, for example, claiming objects within logic that were traditionally pertinent to the domain of metaphysics (such as the study of being as such and its properties). On the contrary, Suárez begins his DM not only by attesting to the legitimacy of metaphysics as a science, but also by asserting the importance of a new metaphysical foundation for theology