Logic at Old Vilnius University: an example of the integrative coexistence of different intellectual discourses

Abstract

Research in logic at Old Vilnius University (1579–1773) is interpreted as exhibiting an integrative, multilayered and multicultural spirit of tolerance in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in Vilnius, in particular. This article focuses on synthetic conceptions of universals and of the object of scientific knowledge as found in the works of Vilnius University professors M. Smiglecki and D. Ortiz. Their conception of universalia was an intermediate variant between realism and nominalism, affirming universal nature to exist in rebus inasmuch as it is cognized by intellect. The object of scientia likewise connected aspects of various epistemological positions. The result of such syntheses was the assertion that, purely theoretically, it is possible to cognize particularity as well as generality in a scientific way, yet practically, the only real object of science is generality. The above-mentioned conception of universals became quite influential in the European context of scholastic logic and philosophy, whereas the conception of the object of science did not receive a great deal of attention.