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SUAREZ, FRANCISCO (1548-1617)

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 1061 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SUAREZ, FRANCISCO (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. 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: SUAREZ, FRANCISCO (1548-1617)

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