Enlightenment and Catholicism in Europe: A Transnational History

Chapter 14: Benito Jerónimo Feijoo y Montenegro (1676–1764)

PARt 6 Catholicism, Enlightenment, and the Iberian States 14 R Benito Jerónimo Feij oo y Montenegro (1676 –17 6 4 ) Benedictine and Skeptic Enlightener FRANCISCo SáNCHEz-BLANCo In the little village of Casdemiro in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula , far from the royal court and the main universities of Spain, Benito Jerónimo Feijoo y Montenegro was born in 1676 as the son of a family that belonged to the rural gentry. though the first-born of ten siblings and thus the heir of the family, he left home when he was eight years old to begin his studies at the nearby monastery of San Juan de Samos. At age fourteen, he entered the Benedictine order, and later graduated in theology from the University of Salamanca. His talent was obvious early on, so it is not surprising that he soon began teaching the adolescents of the surrounding monasteries. In 1709, he accepted a chair of theology in oviedo, and subsequently rejected all future offers for more prestigious positions or honors. only for arranging his publications or brief research trips did he leave the 309 310 Francisco Sánchez-Blanco city of oviedo, where he died in 1764 as one of the most important Spanish intellectuals of the century. Spain’s Long Way to Enlightenment In the last third of the seventeenth century, the decay of Spain’s political reputation among the European powers, as well as an increasing decadence in its art and literature, seriously affected its cultural and intellectual life. the last great writer of the Siglo de Oro, the Spanish Golden Age, was the dramatist Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600–1681), who, with his death in 1681, left a distressing literary emptiness behind. At the universities, late scholasticism dominated the curriculum. Different authorities in theology (Holy Scripture, magisterium, church fathers) and in philosophy (Aristotle, thomas Aquinas) continued to draw the same conclusions, and the same discussions and controversies between rival schools were repeated ad nauseam. Everything not grounded in tradition was viewed as a “novelty” or potential heresy. Nevertheless, signs of an intellectual renewal were also detectable. In ethics, Francisco Gutiérrez de los Ríos (1644–1721) laid the foundation for secular activities in commerce and in the family with his publication The Practical Man (El hombre práctico ; 1686). In Madrid, a small circle of physicians gathered around Juan de Cabriada (1665–1714), who openly embraced empiricism (Cabriada 1686). In philosophy, there were the first cautious attempts to overcome the rigid discipline of the university schools. the Jewish thinker Isaac Cardoso (c. 1603–1683) argued for a renewed “free philosophy ” (in his Philosphia libera; 1673) with an eclectic method, but without an empiricist agenda (yerushalmi 1981). the decisive break with traditional university scholarship happened in Seville at the end of the seventeenth century. there, a group of physicians, who had substantial experience in anatomy and pharmacology, engaged in a fierce debate with so-called Latin physicians at the university, who relied on their knowledge of quotations from Hippocrates or Galen. the innovators ultimately won the argument and, in 1734, with the Benito Jerónimo Feijoo y Montenegro (1676–1764) 311 help of the Bourbon dynasty, established an academic society of medicine , the Real Sociedad Médica. Empirical research was now officially institutionalized in Spain. the Spanish Crown also supported the foundation of other academies, for example, the academy of language (1714) and of history (1738). knowledge now seemed to emerge from social institutions, whereas universities and professors had lost their leadership role, and private tertulias (discussion groups) disseminated new concepts of nature , theology, and politics. these meetings were not as pompous as in some French salons, but were nonetheless similarly effective. People with similar interests met in the living quarters of an aristocratic family, the cell of a monk, the office of a jurist or a physician on a regular basis and discussed a variety of themes. these groups did not exclusively discuss new literature, but also and especially new discoveries in the natural sciences, new mechanical inventions and machines , travel stories, and political events. Members were those who felt disenchanted with the cultural life in their immediate vicinity and who wanted to learn about Spanish (as well as foreign) books, pamphlets , and journals. Feijoo was one such member, and not only his writing style but also the form he gave to his thoughts echoes the dialogical style of...