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Franciso Suárez, 1548-1617.
Spanish Jesuit philosopher, originating from a New Christian family of Granada. Franciso Suárez studied philosophy and theology at Salamanca. Although not a promising student, he proved to be a late bloomer and went on to become one of the leading scholars of his time. From 1597, Suarez taught at Coimbra, where he inherited the mantle and doctrines of Jesuit pathbreakers Pedro da Fonseca and Luis Molina.
Suarez's principal works was in the abstract heights of late Scholastic metaphysics (his 1597 treatise being profoundly influential in its time). But he also authored a couple of legal treatises (1612, 1613) that are more relevant. Although hardly touching on economic matters, Suarez's 1612 legal treatise elaborated on the natural law theories of society and the human (rather than divine) origins of civil government that had been propounded by early Jesuits like Molina and de Mariana, and his reflections on natural and international law were given great credit by Grotius. However, given the suspicious reputation of the Jesuits at the time, Suarez rejects the regicidal implications of de Mariana's thesis, except under extreme circumstances. Nonetheless, Suarez stokes up his own troubles in 1613 when, in the course of his attack on James I and the Anglican church, he condemns 'oaths of allegiance', a direct affront to the incipient rise of royal absolutism, that led to the condemnation and public burning of his work by civil authorities in London and Paris.
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