Scholastic Tradition Research Articles

Pioneering the Laws of Commerce: Conversations with Professor Leonard Sedgwick Sealy for the Cambridge ESA

The calm and courteous mannerisms that Professor Len Sealy’s interviews radiate belie a pragmatic determination that has been the hallmark of his long and productive career. For nearly six decades he has been a legal pioneer, working assiduously to elevate the law of commerce, and in particular company law and insolvency, to scholarly respectability in academia and practical understanding in boardrooms. Yet typically, for one who spent his entire professional life collaborating with wealth creators of the commercial world, he eschewed direct personal involvement in such activities. His loyalty to the scholastic tradition, mirrored in his unstinting service to his college and the Faculty, has generated a legacy of fond regard and intellectual respect. These reflections are based on interviews with Professor Sealy at the Squire Law Library during February and April 2013. They should be read in conjunction with Professor Sealy’s entry in the Eminent Scholars Archive.

Intercultural teaching in the Arab Gulf region: Making a case for paedagogy that takes into account the epistemic context and the scholastic traditions of Muslim students

Since its appearance in the 1960s as an independent academic discipline, intercultural teaching in the field of languages has enjoyed great success. This is in some way connected to the dominance of European languages in international communication (notably in the fields of education and research, business and finance, sport and entertainment, etc.). European languages (e.g., English and French) are taught in all corners of the globe and considerable (interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary) research is conducted to improve the teaching of these languages. However, in the Arab-Muslim context of the Gulf countries, the implementation of intercultural teaching theories often finds itself at odds with local cultures and values because these theories can be perceived as a subtle medium for the expansion of Western socio-cultural values and lifestyles. The main reason for this is that these theories are developed, designed, and destined primarily for students from a liberal and secular background. Teaching European languages and cultures to Arab-Muslim students of the Gulf highlights the difficulties involved in the implementation of intercultural teaching. This article gives an overview of intercultural teaching and analyses the challenges it faces. It also makes a case for a paedagogy that takes into account the epistemic context and the scholastic traditions of the Muslim students living and socialising in the Gulf countries.

Scholastic just price versus current market price: is it merely a matter of labelling?

From an analytical point of view, some aspects of Just Price theory, probably the most famous and lasting scholastic concept, remain controversial: the cost-of-production versus the subjective-utility theory of value is a main controversy as well as the question of whether the natural just price is conceptually the same as the current market price. Strictly speaking, just price isconceptually the same as the current market price. Of concern is whether the meaning behind the label is the same in both scholastic and liberal traditions. There are different interpretations among scholars. One is that the just price is merely the current market price, and common estimation plays the same role as market forces in a competitive context. Another group states that the just price is quite different from the market price; the fundamental reason is that the ethical framework of the scholastic paradigm sets a corpus of principles that greatly differs from the neoclassical homo economicus. Is it possible to speak of a collaborative market price (scholastic tradition) and competitive market price (liberal tradition)? This article tries to dig into such debate and reflects on the morality of the market price.

Wina i sumienie. Komentarz etyczny do epilogu Zbrodni i kary Fiodora Dostojewskiego

Dostoyevsky’s famous novel Crime and Punishment can be interpreted as an argument with Nietzsche’s view on the genealogy of conscience. While Nietzsche believes that conscience is a product of a disease and inhibits the will to power, Dostoevsky shows the situation of crossing the border as a source of moral illness and self-destruction of the human person. Crime and Punishment, as well as Dostoevsky’s novel Demons and The Trial of F. Kafka, also criticize modern and postmodern society, in which there is a strong trend, stimulated by psychoanalysis, to liberate people from guilt. With reference to Martin Buber’s views, the author of the article formulates a thesis on the ontological nature of guilt, treating its confession as a necessary act of self-enlightenment in conscience.Examining the structure of conscience in the context of guilt, a deeper level must be indicated, called synderesis in the scholastic tradition. Considering the elements of experience present in the experience of conscience, the author criticizes the intellectualist interpretation of synderesis. He takes into account the deep level of understanding of conscience in the category of heart made by D. v. Hildebrand and the anamnesis category of J. Ratzinger.

Tyndale and the Text in the Heart

Tyndale's polemic is remarkably preoccupied with reading, looking beyond doctrinal minutiae to the fundamental matter of how to read the scriptures. His vernacular "plain-text" translations of the Bible required a correspondingly accessible way to read plainly. This plain reading had to negotiate long-standing religious tensions between mediation and transgression, and reject the scholastic traditions of intertextuality. Tyndale's solution was "the text in the heart."This article will explore how Tyndale aligns scholastic reading with fragmentation and transgressive mimesis, and how his own theory of reading arises as a reaction to this. I will argue that the text in the heart offers an alternative by transforming reading into the private experience of despair tempered by faith in God's love. This shift enables the reader to transcend the scriptural text and its issues of mediation and transgression, so that he himself can become the perfect expression of God's imagination.

Renaissance treatises on ‘successful ageing’

ABSTRACTNumerous treatises on ‘successful ageing’ were published during the late Renaissance. Zerbi'sGerontocomiaand Cornaro'sTrattato della Vita Sobria, in particular, have been considered as early precursors of modern gerontology. In this paper I revisit these two treatises, outline their content and common themes, and set them in the context of other literature written about ageing in this period. The rise of civic humanism, increased access to classical texts on health and hygiene, and the emergence of environmental and public health concerns, particularly in the Italian city states, are some of the factors that influenced this writing. The powerful yet insecure position of older men in the upper ranks of Italian society gave the topic of ‘seniority’ added relevance. While their roots in the scholastic tradition prevent them from serving as forerunners of scientific gerontology, their humanist concern with ‘lifestyle’ succeeds in making them the prototypes of the ‘do-it-yourself’ manuals for successful ageing that now proliferate in our late modernity.

Os tradutores da Casa do Arco do Cego e a ciência iluminista: a conciliação pelas palavras

Entre 1799 e 1801, funcionou em Lisboa a Casa Literária do Arco do Cego. Voltada para a publicação de obras científicas e didáticas ligadas à aplicação das ciências naturais, a Arco do Cego foi dirigida pelo frei José Mariano da Conceição Veloso, naturalista brasileiro e tradutor incansável. Para realizar o objetivo de trazer o progresso para o reino português por meio da instrução, as atividades da Arco do Cego ocorreram dentro de um sistema de mecenato em que a coroa portuguesa arcava com as despesas dos projetos. Essas despesas incluíam aquelas referentes ao pagamento dos tradutores recrutados por Frei Veloso, como Manoel Jacinto Nogueira da Gama, matemático, filósofo naturalista e professor que traduziu obras nas áreas de matemática e engenharia. As traduções publicadas sob a supervisão de Veloso eram introduzidas por dedicatórias e prefácios de tom laudatório escritos pelos tradutores, que assim reconheciam seu débito com a monarquia e declaravam sua fidelidade à Coroa e às tradições portuguesas. O objetivo deste trabalho é mostrar que esses paratextos funcionaram como instrumentos para a aceitação dos princípios científicos iluministas, pois as ideias progressistas eram apresentadas aos leitores portugueses por discursos comprometidos com as tradições do antigo regime português e com a retórica escolástica.

The Spectacle de la Nature in Eighteenth-Century Spain: From French Households to Spanish Workshops

Summary This paper analyzes the Spanish appropriation of one of the great French eighteenth-century best-sellers, the Spectacle de la Nature (1732--1750) by the abbé Antoine Nöel Pluche. In eight volumes, the abbé discussed current issues in natural philosophy, such as Newtonianism, the origin of fossils, artisan techniques, natural history, machines, gardening or insect-collection in a polite-conversation format. It was translated into English (1735), Dutch (1737), Italian (1737), German (1746) and Spanish (1753). But the four Spanish editions were very different from their European counterparts. In Spain, it was delivered in 16 carefully printed and extensively commented volumes. In Pluche's original, there was a concern for the young gentleman's education, new pedagogical methods and an enthusiastic defence of experimental knowledge. However, Le Spectacle in Spain was conceived as a useful tool for modernizing the country, it served political and propagandist goals, defended Spanish culture and science (in particular with respect to American flora, fauna and geography) and the Jesuit contribution to science and aimed to harmonize experimental knowledge and scholastic tradition. The analysis of the more than 1500 footnotes, prefaces, some readers’ comments and other questions related to the format gives insight on how it was appropriated.

Arabic and English abstracts in bilingual language science journals

Although Arabic is a language with a long scholarly tradition, relatively little is known about the rhetorical and linguistic features of contemporary Arabic prose. In this paper, we examine 28 Arabic and English paired abstracts dealing with the language sciences drawn from three journals. The analysis shows in both sub-corpora little use of first person pronouns or promotional elements, and the move structures tended to be simple, often only background→ findings. Differences between the two languages included greater use of rhetorical and metaphorical flourishes in some Arabic texts and increased attention to background knowledge in some of the English ones. These findings may be related to certain scholastic traditions in the Arab World and to the fact that Arab humanities journals have only recently required articles to be accompanied by abstracts.

Conciliatory reflections on the procession of the Holy Spirit in Giles of Viterbo'sSentencescommentary

AbstractGiles of Viterbo's early sixteenth-century commentary on Peter Lombard'sLibri sententiarumincludes a discussion of the controversial Western doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son (Filioque) in its regular place at distinction 11 of book 1. In treating this issue Giles remained true to his aim of producing a commentary ‘according to the mind of Plato’ (ad mentem Platonis). Giles had access to the dialogues of Plato but only limited access to original texts of the Greek Fathers. Nevertheless, he reviewed theFilioquecontroversy in a manner which respects thesententia Graecorum, even disagreeing with a line of argumentation championed by scholastic supporters of the Augustinian tradition, including Thomas Aquinas, over the related question of whether it should be said that there is onespiratoror pluralspiratores. Giles' conciliatory position owes much to his intellectual environment, which fostered a renewed admiration for Hellenism and classical humanism. Working largely without benefit of the emerging rediscovery of Eastern patristic theology Giles nevertheless reassesses the arguments for and against theFilioquewhich he received from the Latin scholastic tradition, seeking, as he does throughout his commentary, what is true on both sides of apparently divergent teachings on divine mystery.

Independent Yet Harmonious: Some Remarks on the Relationship between the Theology of Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499–1562) and John Calvin

The essay deals with the relationship between the theology of Peter Martyr Vermigli and John Calvin. Comparing their doctrine of predestination and justification, there emerge both points of contact and divergences. Whereas their teaching coincided in content, their method and terminology could differ even significantly, not least because Vermigli—more often than Calvin—integrated into his theological works concepts and distinctions characteristic of the Aristotelian and scholastic traditions. Thus, while remaining a loyal and esteemed ally of Calvin during his entire career as a Reformed theologian, Vermigli always retained his own theological profile.

СТАНОВЛЕНИЕ GRAMMATICA SPECULATIVA: АНАЛИЗ НЕКОТОРЫХ ОСОБЕННОСТЕЙ РЕАЛИЗМА, КОНЦЕПТУАЛИЗМА И НОМИНАЛИЗМА В РЕШЕНИИ ПРОБЛЕМЫ УНИВЕРСАЛИЙ

In article are analyzed and compared features of decisions of «universalies problem» offered by such scholastic traditions as realism, conceptualism and nominalism played a key role in becoming of problem field of logical-semiotic researches medieval grammatica speculativa.

Presencia humanista en el Cursus Conimbricensis: Disputatio de Risu (de anima III, Q XIII A.VI)

Res_eng:The Second Scholastic thought develops in the Humanism period, especially in the Cursus Cominbricensis. This paper shows the relation between the Scholastic tradition and the Renaissance Humanism, from the reference of the laugh (Disputatio risu) in Comment to De anima. In this topic appears a development of the classic and medieval laugh subject, and also the Humanism scientific context.

Dolpopa and Gyaltsab Debate Tathāgatagarbha: Two Distinct Interpretations of Buddha‐Nature in Tibet

AbstractBuddhists have discussed the concept of enlightenment since the time of the Buddha, but the notion that all sentient beings have buddha‐nature is found in Mahāyāna Buddhism. For the Mahāyāna thinkers, one of the crucial questions at the center of how all beings can achieve enlightenment is this apparent paradox: frailty, ignorance, and delusions presumably exist concomitantly with buddha‐nature in all sentient beings. This article provides a brief survey of the textual history of the buddha‐nature literature followed by an in‐depth discussion of buddha‐nature in the terms set out by two influential Tibetan thinkers, Dolpopa and Gyaltsab; the debate between these thinkers is set in relation to extant discourses of Buddhist ontology, epistemology, and enlightenment within the Tibetan Buddhist scholastic tradition.

The Development of Mersenne's Optics

This paper reconstructs the development of Mersenne's reflections concerning optics. I argue that Mersenne's optical writings provide crucial insights into Mersenne's Aristotelianism. I reconstruct Mersenne's attempt of explaining the new ideas on light, which were advanced by Kepler, Descartes and Hobbes within Aristotle's natural philosophy. Mersenne explained Kepler's work on light within the Scholastic tradition. In the 1640s, Mersenne was stimulated by the debate concerning Descartes' theory of light, which he accepted only in 1648. Indeed, Mersenne first explained Descartes' law of refraction by means of Hobbes physics. However, Mersenne always wanted to remain faithful to Aristotle.

Dealing with Diversity: On the Uses of Common Sense in Descartes and Montaigne

This essay attempts to retrieve the notion of ‘common sense’ within the writings of Descartes and Montaigne. I suggest that both writers represent distinct traditions in which the notion is employed. Descartes represents a modernist tradition in which common sense is understood to be a cognitive faculty, while Montaigne represents a humanist tradition in which common sense is understood as a political virtue. I also suggest that both writers work with the notion as a way of responding to diversity in the world. The paper concludes with a discussion of how the notion of common sense employed by Descartes and Montaigne emerges out of the scholastic tradition and the assertion that both writers are responding to the educational consequences of scholasticism. I also discuss how the reconstruction of Descartes in this paper can provide some ground for raising new questions about the Cartesian project and educational philosophy. Finally, I gesture toward the idea that the humanist tradition with its understanding of common sense as political virtue can provide benefit for contemporary responses to diversity.

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Locke on Language

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Locke on Language

Alchemical Atoms or Artisanal “Building Blocks”? A Response to Klein

In a recent essay review of William R. Newman, Atoms and Alchemy (2006), Ursula Klein defends her position that philosophically informed corpuscularian theories of matter contributed little to the growing knowledge of “reversible reactions” and robust chemical species in the early modern period. Newman responds here by providing further evidence that an experimental, scholastic tradition of alchemy extending well into the Middle Ages had already argued extensively for the persistence of ingredients during processes of “mixture” (e.g. chemical reactions), and that this corpuscular alchemical tradition bore important fruit in the work of early modern chymists such as Daniel Sennert and Robert Boyle.

Jonathan Edwards on the Divine Nature

AbstractIn the recent literature there have been several accounts of Jonathan Edwards's doctrine of God (Theology Proper). In this paper, I offer a rather different interpretation of Edwards, showing that his understanding of the divine nature is much more in keeping with the Reformed scholastic tradition in which he was educated, despite the fact that he ends up embracing a version of panentheism.

Gerald Odonis' Economics Treatise

Abstract Gerald Odonis' treatise on contracts, restitutions, and excommunication is one of his earliest works, composed in Toulouse ca. 1315-17. Mainly based on Peter John Olivi's De contractibus, but using a variety of other sources and offering some original arguments as well, it is remarkable for its pragmatic approach to economic phenomena. His rejection of the rational argument against usury reveals a casual use of the bull Exiit qui seminat, defining Franciscan poverty, as well as a change of assumptions in the approach to economic exchange. Whereas various explanations can be provided for the provocative aspect of this youthful treatise, all in all, it can best be described as a free and uninhibited interpretation of the scholastic tradition.