Luis de Molina

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16th-century philosophy
Second scholasticism
RegionWestern philosophy
Notable ideas
Introducing Molinism

Luis de Molina

priest, theologian and jurist follower of Second scholasticism of the School of Salamanca. A staunch defender of free will in the controversy over human liberty and God's grace. His theology is known as Molinism
.

Life

From 1551 to 1562, Molina studied law in Salamanca, philosophy in Alcalá de Henares, and theology in Coimbra. After 1563, he became a professor at the University of Coimbra, and afterward taught at the University of Évora, Portugal. From this post he was called, at the end of twenty years, to the chair of moral theology in Madrid, where he died.[1]

Besides other works he wrote De liberi arbitrii cum gratiae donis, divina praescientia, praedestinatione et reprobatione concordia (4 vols., Lisbon, 1588); a commentary on the first part of the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas (2 vols., fol., Cuenca, 1593); and a treatise De jure et justitia (6 vols., 1593–1609).

It is to the first of these that his fame is principally due. It was an attempt to reconcile, in words at least, the

future contingent
events, foresees how we shall employ our own free-will and treat his proffered grace, and upon this foreknowledge he can found his predestinating decrees.

These doctrines, which opposed both traditional understanding of

Congregatio de auxiliis Gratiae for the settlement of the dispute, which became more and more a party one. After holding very numerous sessions, the congregation was able to decide nothing, and in 1607 its meetings were suspended by Paul V, who in 1611 prohibited all further discussion of the question de auxiliis and of discussions about efficacious grace, and studious efforts were made to control the publication even of commentaries on Aquinas[citation needed
].

Several regent Masters of the Dominican College of St. Thomas, the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), were involved in the Molinist controversy. The Dominicans Diego Álvarez (c. 1550–1635), author of the De auxiliis divinae gratiae et humani arbitrii viribus,[2] and Tomás de Lemos (1540–1629) were given the responsibility of representing the Dominican Order in debates before Pope Clement VIII and Pope Paul V.[3]

The Molinist subsequently passed into the

Jansenist controversy[clarification needed
].

Molina was also the first Jesuit to write at length on

Martín de Azpilcueta in Salamanca, writing that "[i]n equal circumstances, the more abundant money is in one place, so much less is its value to buy things or to acquire things that are not money."[6]

Molina was among the first people to use discuss the “diamond-water paradox”. Where water is of more abundant and useful than a diamond, the value of the diamond is far greater than the value of water due to its association with a higher social status and scarcity. This paradox arises because the value of a good, in classical economics, is determined by its scarcity and its utility. Many other great thinkers have used the diamond-water paradox to describe how the relative scarcity of a product can determine its price. Overall, the diamond-water paradox challenges classical economic theory and highlights the importance of subjective perceptions of value and scarcity in determining market prices.

In his De jure et Justitia Molina says, “the just price of a pearl, which can be used only to decorate, is higher than the just price of grain, bread, or horses, even if the utility of these things is superior.”

Works

  • De liberi arbitrii cum gratiae donis, divina praescientia, praedestinatione et reprobatione concordia, 4 vols., Lisbona, 1588; 2nd ed. Antwerp, 1595.
  • De Hispanorum primogeniorum origine ac natura (in Latin). Lugduni: Pedro Landri. 1588.
  • De jure et justitia, 6 vols., 1593–1609.
  • Commentaria in primam partem divi Thomae (in Latin) (2 vols., fol. ed.). Cuenca. 1593.
  • De Hispanorum primogeniorum origine ac natura, 1588
    De Hispanorum primogeniorum origine ac natura, 1588
  • De iustitia et iure, 1733
    De iustitia et iure, 1733

Notes

  1. ^ Luis de Molina, A Treatise on Money Archived 2018-03-03 at the Wayback Machine. CLP Academic, 2015, p.xxiii.
  2. ^ "Diego Alvarez". The Original Catholic Encyclopedia. 21 July 2010. Archived from the original on 2012-03-16. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
  3. ^ "Lemos "lé-", Tomás de". Enciclopedia Treccani (in Italian). Retrieved 9 March 2013.
  4. ^ Luis de Molina, A Treatise on Money Archived 2018-03-03 at the Wayback Machine. CLP Academic, 2015, p.xxv.
  5. ^ Luis de Molina A Treatise on Money Archived 2018-03-03 at the Wayback Machine. CLP Academic, 2015, p.xxvi.
  6. ^ Luis de Molina, A Treatise on Money Archived 2018-03-03 at the Wayback Machine. CLP Academic, 2015, p.96.

References

Further reading

A full account of Molina's theology will be found in

Gerhard Schneeman
's Entstehung der thomistisch-molinistischen Controverse, published in the Appendices (Nos. 9, 13, 14) to the Jesuit periodical, Stimmen aus Maria-Laach.

  • Ernest Renan's article, Les congregations de auxiliis in his Nouvelles études d'histoire religieuse.
  • Alonso-Lasheras, Diego. "Luis de Molina's De Iustitia et Iure. Justice as Virtue in an Economic Context", Leiden: Brill 2011.
  • Matthias Kaufmann, Alexander Aichele (eds.), A Companion to Luis de Molina, Leiden: Brill 2014.
  • MacGregor, Kirk. Luis de Molina: The Life and Theology of the Founder of Middle Knowledge. Grand Rapids: Zondervan 2015. [the first full book on Molina]
  • Smith, Gerard (ed.) Jesuit thinkers of the Renaissance, Milwaukee (USA) 1939, pp. 75–132.
  • A critical edition of Treatise on Money was translated and published by
    Christian's Library Press as A Treatise on Money (2015): Luis de Molina, A Treatise on Money Archived 2018-03-03 at the Wayback Machine
    . CLP Academic, 2015.
  • Luis de Molina (translated by Daniel Schwartz and Joerg Tellkamp On Slavery and the Slave Trade (De Iustitia et Iure, Book 1, treatise 2, Disputations 32-40), Washington DC
    Catholic University of America Press
    , 2024.

External links