Martinus Smiglecius

Martinus Smiglecius (another Latin variant: Martinus Leopolitanus, also Polish: Marcin Śmiglecki, Lithuanian: Martynas Smigleckis^[1]; c. 1564 – 1618) was a Polish Jesuit philosopher, known for his erudite scholastic Logica of 1618.

Life

He was born in Lvov c. 1564. He used the surname Lwowczyk, or Leopolitanus, and then later adopted the name Smiglecius (from Szmigel) because of his family background.^[2]

After study in Rome, he returned in 1586 to the University of Vilnius. He wrote also a book on economics, O Lichwie (On Usury) (1596).^[3] In 1599 he took part in a public disputation with the Protestants Marcin Janicki and Daniel Mikołajewski. It was recorded by Martin Gratian Gertich.^[4]

The Logica

The Logica was several times reprinted, in particular at Oxford where it was in use as a textbook.^[5] It harked back to Gregory of Rimini, discussing mental propositions.^[6] As a textbook author his reputation survived in the satirical poem The Logicians Refuted^[7], attributed to both Jonathan Swift and Oliver Goldsmith. Samuel Johnson, writing in 1751 in The Rambler, claimed that as student he "slept every night with Smiglecius on my pillow."^[8]

Views

In a live controversy of the time, Smiglecius sided with Benedictus Pereyra against Giuseppe Biancani. The issue was the status of mathematical proof in physics, where Pereyra denied mathematics an essential status.^[9]

Notes

1. ^ http://www.mokslasvu.mb.vu.lt/LT.php?content=publication&Id=166
2. ^ Smiglecius on entia rationis (PDF)
3. ^ http://www.lituanus.org/1981_2/81_2_01.htm
4. ^ Edmund de Schweinitz, History of the Church Known as the Unitas Fratrum Or the Unity of the Brethren (1885), note p. 473.
5. ^ http://www.unesco.org/webworld/mdm/visite/vilnius/knygos/knygos/logika/migle/anglu/emmigle.htm
6. ^ R. J. Ashworth, Traditional Logic, pp. 160-1 in Charles B. Schmitt, Quentin Skinner (editors), The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy (1990).
7. ^ s:The Logicians Refuted
8. ^ http://www.archive.org/stream/worksofsamueljoh05johniala/worksofsamueljoh05johniala_djvu.txt
9. ^ Paolo Mancosu, Philosophy of Mathematics and Mathematical Practice in the Seventeenth Century (1996), p. 13 and p. 19.

Persondata
Name	Smiglecius
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1564
Place of birth
Date of death	1618
Place of death