Descartes, Biography, Ch 1., Clarke

1596-1650

Intro, Ch1
"a conflict of cultures between a desiccated, obsolete scholasticism and the emerging scientific revolution. Descartes major contribution to the history of ideas was made in articulating that conflict...addressed many of the inherent weaknesses of traditional philosophy" 5
"...philosophical innovator who continued to exploit many of the scholastic concepts that his own work rendered problematic"

Frontispiece of a 1720 edition of the Institutio Oratoria, showing Quintilan teaching rhetoric

Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (c. 35 – c. 100 CE) was a Roman rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing.

RE Quintillian: "the objective of any rhetorical presentation was to convince one's hearers. Hence the need, according to Q, for clarity and distinctness - two concepts that were to figure subsequently key features of the Cartesian account of evidence" 18
RE Quintillian, features of rhetoric esp important for lawyers: "the prime essential for stirring the emotions of others is, in my opinion, first to feel the emotions in oneself...an arg must be based on certainty; for it is obviously impossible to prove what is doubtful by what is no less doubtful" 18

RE Jesuit teaching:"...avoid 'new opinions' and not to introduce any opinion that 'does not have suitable authority' or is 'opposed to axioms of learned men or the general beliefs of scholars" 21

General Structure of a school day at La Fleche College c. 1610

5:00/5:30 A.M.      Rise, pray, and repeat lessons to one's prefect
7:30/8:00 A.M.      Formal classes
10:00 A.M.            Attend Mass
10:45 A.M.            Lunch in the refectory
11:30 A.M.            Recreation
12:00 A.M.            Private study, and repetition of lessons with one's prefect
2:00-5:00 P.M.       Formal classes
6:00 P.M.               Dinner, and recreation
7:00 P.M.               General repetition of lessons
9:00 P.M.               Visit to the church and prayer before retiring

Line engraving by D. Cunego, 1785, 

EG non-Christian int's of Aristotle: Averroes (1126, spain): "understood Aristotle as proposing that there was a single world soul in which all thinking beings participate" "

Pomponazzi

Pomponazzi: "if the human soul is the 'form' that defines the nature of human beings, then the soul ceases to exist when the individual dies...P did not argue that the human soul cannot possibly be immortal. He only defended the more modest position that, as far as human reason or philosophy can take us, there is no basis for believing that each person has an immortal soul, although it might be accepted on faith as part of the church's teaching."

St Ignatius of Loyala, Rubens 

RE Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius (Wiki): The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola (Latin original: Exercitia spiritualia) (composed 1522–1524) are a set of Christian meditations, prayers and mental exercises, written by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, a 16th-century Spanish priest, theologian, and founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Divided into four thematic "weeks" of variable length, it is designed to be carried out over a period of 28 to 30 days.^[1] They were composed with the intention of helping the retreatant to discern Jesus in his life, leading him to a personal commitment to follow him.

RE SE of SI: "relied very much on the imagination to represent scenes from the life of christ, to reflect on the Christian's life as a journey toward God; and they systematically invoked the senses as a starting point for acquiring an appreciation or understanding of spiritual realities" 28