J.L. Vives: Early Writings I: De initiis sectis et laudibus philosophiae, Veritas fucata, Anima senis, Pompeius fugiens. Introduction, Critical ... Notes

by Juan Luis Vives, C. Matheeussen (Editor)

This volume presents four early works by Vives: "De initiis sectis et laudibus philisophiae" (On the Origins, Schools and Merits of Philosophy); "Veritas fucata" (Painted Truth); "Anima senis" (the Soul of an Old Man); and "Pompeius fugiens" (Pompey in Flight). In each case the Latin text is accompanied by an English translation. The main aim of the editors has been to provide for the first time critical editions of the texts. The texts published here were included by Vives in the volume of collected essays which appeared in 1519 in Louvain under the title "Opuscula varia," The text published at that time has also become the "textus receptus," Variants are, of course, included in the critical apparatus. The "apparatus fontium" gives us an insight into Vives as a humanist. To the English translation are appended a small number of explanatory notes. Finally, there are these three indices: an "index nominum" (with reference in each to an encyclopaedia article which contains the bibliography forming the basis), an "index locorum," and an "index verborum memorabilium" (which indicates deviations from Classical Latin forms). This volume is the first in a planned series of "Selected Works" which will follow the same concept.

158 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1987

About the author

Juan Luis Vives y March. Humanista y pensador español. Nacido en una familia de judíos conversos, estudió en las universidades de Valencia y París. Desde 1512 se estableció en Flandes, donde fue profesor de la Universidad de Lovaina y entabló una estrecha relación con Erasmo de Rotterdam. También mantuvo amistad intelectual con Tomás Moro, que le llevó a enseñar en la Universidad de Oxford desde 1523.

Al igual que Moro, se opuso al divorcio de Enrique VIII, motivo por el que fue arrestado y hubo de dejar Inglaterra y regresar a Flandes en 1528. Su influencia sobre la Europa del Renacimiento fue enorme, pues no sólo acudieron a consultarle los más influyentes artífices de la Reforma protestante y de la Contrarreforma católica, sino que fue tutor y educador de muchos nobles que ocuparon puestos de responsabilidad en la monarquía de Carlos V.

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Juan Luis Vives was a Valencian scholar and humanist who spent nearly his entire adult life in the Southern Netherlands. His beliefs on the soul, insight to early medicine practice, and perspective on emotions, memory, and learning earns him the title of the ‘father’ of modern psychology. Vives was the first to shed light on some key point ideas that established how we perceive psychology today.

Vives was born in Valencia to a Jewish family which had converted to Christianity. As a child, he saw his father, grandmother and great-grandfather, as well as members of their wider family, executed as Judaizers at the behest of the Spanish Inquisition; his mother was acquitted but died of the plague when he was 15 years old. Shortly thereafter, he left Spain never to return.

Whilst still in Spain he attended the Valencia Academy, where he was taught by Jerome Amiguetus and Daniel Siso. The school was dominated by scholasticism, with the dialectic and disputation playing a central role in the delivery of education.