Franciscus Sebastiani's Logica (1791)

Abstract

76 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY tion. Huarte's emphasis upon eugenic and hygienic rules was only an application of Vires' faith in education to the medical care of the individual. These rules are the utmost expression of his naturalism, not because they establish a causal relationship between certain material conditions and the procreation and care of talented boys, but because they try to inculcate the most practical way to improve man's destiny upon earth. Led by such persuasion, Huarte did not hesitate a moment to recommend the intervention of public officials in the mating of prospective parents and in the supervision of domestic health conditions (XVII; 492). In this respect, Huarte's Examen de Ingenios is--along with Sabuco de Nantes' Nueva Filosofia de la Naturaleza del Hombre--without any doubt the outstanding manifestation of naturalism in the philosophical literature of Spain during the sixteenth century. CARLOS G. NORE~A University of California, Santa Cruz FRANCISCUS SEBASTIANI'S LocIcA (1791)* The bibliographical research recently published by W. B. Redmond t has revealed the existence of hundreds of unexpected items in logic from the 17th and 18th centuries, which belong to the "colonial" period of the Americas. The purpose of this article is to examine one of the manuscripts mentioned by Redmond--the Logica of Sebastiani. The secular priest Franciscus Sebastiani taught philosophy in the Real Colegio San Carlos (Buenos Aires) towards the end of the 18th century. A manuscript of his logic course, written by a student, is available in the Archive General de la Naci6n, Buenos Aires.2 * The present article was prepared under a grant from the Institute of Latin American Studies of the University of Texas at Austin (Summer, 1969). The writer is grateful also to Ft. GuiIlermo Furlong and Fr. Ismael Quiles, Buenos Aires, for their friendly advice. Walter B. Redmond, Bibliography of the Philosophy of the Colonial Period in Latin America, M. A. thesis, University of Texas at Austin, summer, 1969--(to appear in The lnWrnational Archives of the History of Ideas). 2 There is now a microfilm in the Stark Library of the University of Texas, Austin. The Archive General de la Naci6n, Buenos Aires, has other philosophical manuscripts from the late 18th century or early 19th century. Some of them are the following: (1) Pantaleon Ribarola, Tertia philosophiae pars sive metaphysica, Buenos Aires, 1781. A beautiful manuscript of about 350 pages; an excellent table of contents is to be found at the end. Metaphysics is divided into metaphysica intentionalis (= ontologia) where such questions as unitas and veritas transcendentalis are discussed, and a metaphysica realis (de dee, mundo, anima). Tiffs item is listed in Redmond's bibliography as number 559. (2) Diego Alcorta, Curse de Filosofia, per D. A. catedratico de la aula de Ydeologia en la Universidad de Buenos Aires. There are two manuscripts under this title, no date. (3) Carolus Maria Gonzales, Institutiones universae philosophiae, conventus Recolectionis, Buenos Aires, 1810; mainly logic, listed in Redmond as 317. (4) Juan C. l.aflinur, Curse tilosofico, 1819. (5) D. S. Zavaleta, Elementa philosophiae universae, secunda pars seu Physica Generalis, Real Colegio San Carlos, 1795; number 779 in Redmond. Redrnond's bibliography mentions Biblioteca National as the library where these manu- NOTES AND DISCUSSIONS 77 The manuscript has been incorrectly catalogued under the rather puzzling title of "Parte primera de la logica," whereas it really is the parte primera de la lilosofta, namely the logica. 3 The complete title is as follows: Philosophia libera seu eclectica rationalis et meehanica sensuum iuxta recentiorum Philosophorum placita elucubrata, studiosaeque, juventutis gratia facili scholasticaque methodo congesta. A D. Francisco Sebastiani in bona aerensi Sancti Caroli regali Collegio artium cathedrae moderatore. Pars prima Logicam complectens incepta orae duodecima mensis aprilis anno Domini 1791. Me audiente Raymundo Gonzalez Gorostizu. The text covers 1t7 pages and is arranged according to the following sections: Praeludium Philosophiae Dissertatio Historico-Critica de Logices nomine, objecto, utilitate, methodo, ortu, progressu, praesenti statu atque praecipuis ejus scriptoribus Paragraphus primus Logices nomen expenditur Paragraphus secundus Logices objectum Paragraphus tertius Logices utilitas Paragraphus quartus Logices ortus Paragraphus quintus Logices in artis forma reductio atque ad nostra fere tempora progressus Paragraphus sextus Logices deformatio [reformatio?] 4 Paragraphus sextus [sic] Logices...