Interpreting Suárez Critical Essays

Francisco Suárez is arguably the most important Neo-Scholastic philosopher and a vital link in the chain leading from medieval philosophy to that of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Long neglected by the Anglo-Saxon philosophical community, this sixteenth-century Jesuit theologian is now an object of intense scholarly attention. In this volume, Daniel Schwartz brings together essays by leading specialists which provide detailed treatment of some key themes of Francisco Suárez's philosophical work: God, metaphysics, meta-ethics, the human soul, action, ethics and law, justice and war. The authors assess the force of Suárez's arguments, set them within their wider argumentative context and single out influences and appraise competing interpretations. The book is a useful resource for scholars and students of philosophy, theology, philosophy of religion and history of political thought and provides a rich bibliography of secondary literature.

1. Introduction Daniel Schwartz; 2. Fundamentals in Suárez's metaphysics: transcendentals and categories Jorge J. E. Gracia and Daniel D. Novotný; 3. The reality of substantial form: Suárez, metaphysical disputations XV Christopher Shields; 4. Suárez on the ontology of relations Jorge Secada; 5. Suárez's cosmological argument for the existence of God Bernie Cantens; 6. Action and freedom in Suárez's ethics Thomas Pink; 7. Obligation, rightness, and natural law: Suárez and some critics Terence H. Irwin; 8. Suárez on distributive justice Daniel Schwartz; 9. Suárez on just war Gregory M. Reichberg.

Daniel Schwartz is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of Aquinas on Friendship (2007).