Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz
Encyclopedia
Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz (Juan Caramuel de Lobkowitz, May 23, 1606 in Madrid
— September 8, 1682 in Vigevano
) was a Spanish
Catholic
scholastic philosopher, ecclesiastic, mathematician and writer.
and even publishing astronomical
tables in his tenth year. After receiving a superficial education at college, where his unusual ability brought rapid advancement, this prodigy turned his attention to the Asiatic languages, especially Chinese
. He was received into the Cistercian Order at the monastery
of La Espina, in the diocese of Palencia, and after ordination entered upon a varied and brilliant career.
His sermon
s attracted the favorable attention of the Infante Ferdinand
, Governor of the Low Countries
, while he was attached to the monastery of Dunes in Flanders
, and in 1638 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Theology
by the University of Louvain
. When he was obliged to leave the Palatinate, Philip IV of Spain
made him his envoy to the court of Emperor Ferdinand III
. He was in turn Abbot of Melrose, Scotland
(Scotland
), Abbot-Superior of the Benedictines of Vienna
, and Grand-Vicar to the Archbishop of Prague
.
In 1648, when the Swedes
attacked Prague, he armed and led a band of ecclesiastics who did yeoman
service in the defence of the city. His bravery on this occasion merited for him a collar of gold
from the emperor. Soon after he became Bishop of Satrianum
, then Campagna
, and at his death was Bishop of Vigevano.
, 1643) tried to solve theological problems by mathematical rules. He was a leading exponent of probabilism
and his permissive moral opinions were criticized in Pascal
's Provincial Letters
and gained for him from Alphonsus Liguori
the title of "Prince of the Laxists".
His mathematical work centered on combinatorics
and he was one of the early writers on probability
, republishing Huygens
's work on dice with helpful explanations.
The Cardinal was also responsible for the design of the facade of the Vigevano Cathedral
.
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
— September 8, 1682 in Vigevano
Vigevano
Vigevano is a town and comune in the province of Pavia, Lombardy, northern Italy, which possesses many artistic treasures and runs a huge industrial business. It is at the center of a district called Lomellina, a great rice-growing agricultural centre...
) was a Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
scholastic philosopher, ecclesiastic, mathematician and writer.
Life
He was a precocious child, early delving into serious problems in mathematicsMathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and even publishing astronomical
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
tables in his tenth year. After receiving a superficial education at college, where his unusual ability brought rapid advancement, this prodigy turned his attention to the Asiatic languages, especially Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
. He was received into the Cistercian Order at the monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
of La Espina, in the diocese of Palencia, and after ordination entered upon a varied and brilliant career.
His sermon
Sermon
A sermon is an oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. Sermons address a Biblical, theological, religious, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law or behavior within both past and present contexts...
s attracted the favorable attention of the Infante Ferdinand
Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand
Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand was Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Infante of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Archbishop of Toledo , and military...
, Governor of the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
, while he was attached to the monastery of Dunes in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
, and in 1638 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Theology
Doctor of Theology
Doctor of Theology is a terminal academic degree in theology. It is a research degree that is considered by the U.S. National Science Foundation to be the equivalent of a Doctor of Philosophy....
by the University of Louvain
Catholic University of Leuven
The Catholic University of Leuven, or of Louvain, was the largest, oldest and most prominent university in Belgium. The university was founded in 1425 as the University of Leuven by John IV, Duke of Brabant and approved by a Papal bull by Pope Martin V.During France's occupation of Belgium in the...
. When he was obliged to leave the Palatinate, Philip IV of Spain
Philip IV of Spain
Philip IV was King of Spain between 1621 and 1665, sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands, and King of Portugal until 1640...
made him his envoy to the court of Emperor Ferdinand III
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand III was Holy Roman Emperor from 15 February 1637 until his death, as well as King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria.-Life:...
. He was in turn Abbot of Melrose, Scotland
Melrose, Scotland
Melrose is a small town and civil parish in the Scottish Borders, historically in Roxburghshire. It is in the Eildon committee area.-Etymology:...
(Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
), Abbot-Superior of the Benedictines of Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, and Grand-Vicar to the Archbishop of Prague
Archbishop of Prague
The following is a list of bishops and archbishops of Prague. The bishopric of Prague was established in 973, and elevated to an archbishopric on 30 April 1344. The today's Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Prague is the continual successor of the bishoprie established in 973...
.
In 1648, when the Swedes
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
attacked Prague, he armed and led a band of ecclesiastics who did yeoman
Yeoman
Yeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...
service in the defence of the city. His bravery on this occasion merited for him a collar of gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
from the emperor. Soon after he became Bishop of Satrianum
Satrianum
The Diocese of Satrianum or Satriano is now a Roman Catholic titular see, that is, an episcopal see that is no longer a geographical diocese. It takes its name from a now destroyed town situated in Lucania and was a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Salerno. The adjectival form of the Latin...
, then Campagna
Campagna
Campagna is a small town and comune of the province of Salerno, in the Campania region of Southern Italy.-History:The town, located in a mountainous district, gradually lost importance in the 20th century...
, and at his death was Bishop of Vigevano.
Works
His books are even more numerous than his titles and his varied achievements; for, according to Jean-Noël Paquot, he published no less than 262 works on grammar, poetry, oratory, mathematics, astronomy, architecture, physics, politics, canon law, logic, metaphysics, theology and asceticism. He loved to defend novel theories, and in Theologia moralis ad prima atque clarissima principia reducta (LouvainLeuven
Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...
, 1643) tried to solve theological problems by mathematical rules. He was a leading exponent of probabilism
Catholic Probabilism
In Catholic moral theology, probabilism provides a way of answering the question about what to do when one does not know what to do. Probabilism proposes that one can follow a probable opinion regarding whether an act may be performed morally, even though the opposite opinion is more probable...
and his permissive moral opinions were criticized in Pascal
Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal , was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen...
's Provincial Letters
Lettres provinciales
The Lettres provinciales are a series of eighteen letters written by French philosopher and theologian Blaise Pascal under the pseudonym Louis de Montalte...
and gained for him from Alphonsus Liguori
Alphonsus Liguori
Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori was an Italian Catholic bishop, spiritual writer, scholastic philosopher and theologian, and founder of the Redemptorists, an influential religious congregation...
the title of "Prince of the Laxists".
His mathematical work centered on combinatorics
Combinatorics
Combinatorics is a branch of mathematics concerning the study of finite or countable discrete structures. Aspects of combinatorics include counting the structures of a given kind and size , deciding when certain criteria can be met, and constructing and analyzing objects meeting the criteria ,...
and he was one of the early writers on probability
Probability
Probability is ordinarily used to describe an attitude of mind towards some proposition of whose truth we arenot certain. The proposition of interest is usually of the form "Will a specific event occur?" The attitude of mind is of the form "How certain are we that the event will occur?" The...
, republishing Huygens
Huygens
Huygens is a Dutch patronymic surname, meaning "son of Hugo". People with the name Huygens include:People* Constantijn Huygens , Dutch poet and composer...
's work on dice with helpful explanations.
The Cardinal was also responsible for the design of the facade of the Vigevano Cathedral
Vigevano Cathedral
Vigevano Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to Saint Ambrose and located in the Piazza Ducale of Vigevano, Italy. It is the seat of the Bishop of Vigevano...
.
Printed Works
- Philippus Prudens, Antwerp, 1639.
- Respuesta al Manifiesto del Reyno de Portugal, Antwerp, 1641.
- Rationalis et realis philosophia, Louvain, 1642.
- Theologia moralis fundamentalis, praeterintentionalis, decalogica, sacramentalis, canonica, regularis, civilis, militaris, Frankfurt, 1652-1653.
- Theologia rationalis Frankfurt, 1654-1655.
- Theologia moralis fundamentalis, editio secunda, Rome, 1656.
- Primus calamus ob oculos ponens metametricam, quae variis currentium, recurrentium, adscendentium, descendentium, nec-non circumvolantium versuum ductibus, aut aeri incisos, aut buxo insculptos, aut plumbo infusos, multiformes labyrinthos exponat, Rome, 1663.
- Mathesis biceps, vetus et nova, Campagna - Lyons, 1670.
- Architectura civil recta y obliqua, Vigevano, 1678.
Further reading
- D. Pastine, Juan Caramuel : Probabilismo ed Enciclopedia, Florence, La Nuova Italia, 1975.
- D. Pastine, "Dello scetticismo e del probabilismo all'operatività : Juan Caramuel", Rivista critica di storia della filosofia 30 (1975), p. 411-419.
- P. Bellazi, Juan Caramuel, Vigevano, Editrice Opera Diocesana - Buona Stampa, 1982.
- J. Velarde Lombraña, Juan Caramuel. Vida y obra, Oviedo, Pentalfa, 1989.
- P. Pissavino (ed.), Le meraviglie del probabile. Juan Caramuel (1606–1682). Atti del convegno internazionale di studi, Vigevano 29-31 ottobre 1982, Vigevano, Comune di Vigevano, 1990.
- U. G. Leinsle (2000), "Maria als Gegenstand der Philosophie. Zu Caramuels 'Philosophia Mariana'", in Den Glauben Verantworten. Bleibende und neue Herausforderungen für die Theologie zur Jahrtausendwende. Festschrift für Heinrich Petri, ed. E. Möde & Th. Schieder, Paderborn-München-Wien-Zürich, Ferdinand Schöningh, 2000, p. 59-66.
- J. Schmutz, "Juan Caramuel on the Year 2000 : Time and Possible Worlds in Early-Modern Scholasticism" in The Medieval Concept of Time. The Scholastic Debate and Its Reception in Early Modern Philosophy, ed. P. Porro, Leiden-New York-Köln, Brill, 2001, p. 399-434.
- A. Catalano, "Juan Caramuel Lobkovitz (1606-1682) e la riconquista delle coscienze in Boemia", Römische Historiche Mitteilungen 44 (2002), p. 339-392.
- J. Fleming, "Juan Caramuel on the Nature of Extrinsic Probability", Studia Moralia 42 (2004), p. 337-360.
- L. Robledo, "El cuerpo como discurso, retórica, predicación y comunicación non verbal en Caramuel", Criticón 84-85 (2002), p. 145-164.
- Y. Schwartz, ed. & transl., Ioannes Caramuel Lobkowitz. On Rabbinic Atheism, translated from the Latin with Introduction by M.-J. Dubois, A. Wohlman, Y. Schwartz, Notes to the text by Y. Schwartz, Jerusalem, The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2005 [in Hebrew].
- A. Serrai, Phoenix Europae. Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz in prospettiva bibliografica, Milan, Edizioni Sylvestre Bonnard, 2005.
- H. W. Sullivan, "Fray Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, O.Cist.: The Prague Years, 1647-1659", in "Corónente tus hazañas". Studies in Honor of John Jay Allen, ed. M. J. McGrath, Newark (DE), Juan de la Cuesta Hispanic Studies, 2005, p. 339-374.
- P. Dvorák, Jan Caramuel z Lobkovic : Vybrané aspekty formální a aplikované logiky [Juan Caramuel y Lobkovitz: Various Aspects of Formal and Applied Logic], Prague, Oikumene, 2006.
- J. Schmutz, "Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz (1606-82)", in Centuriae latinae II. Cent et une figures humanistes de la Renaissance aux Lumières, à la mémoire de Marie-Madeleine de la Garanderie, ed. C. Nativel, Geneva, Droz, 2006, p. 182-202.
- P. Dvorák, Relational logic in Juan Caramuel in: Mediaeval and Renaissance Logic, Volume 2 (Handbook of the History of Logic) ed. D. M. Gabby, J. Woods, Amsterdam, North-Holland, 2008 pp. 645–666.