Magic Action Theory in the 16th Century Spain Philosophy (in the Instance of Lecture «On Magic Art» by Francisco de Vitoria and the Book «Against the False and Superstitious Arts» by Benedictus Pererius)

My final thesis dedicated to the magic action theory in 16th century Spain. The action corresponds to the Latin actio, and often it is also equivocally to the finite forms of agere. Aquinas’ favorite example of some action is that of fire heating something. As we can see – action or actio is something about the process. Another interesting example of the process is summoning a demon. This action was popular in the 16th century, a period of intellectual conflict between new technologies, expanding knowledge about the world and older ideas and beliefs that seemed to be diminished by the new frontiers of knowledge. Heart of European intellectual life was Spain – the period of the Second Scholasticism (the middle of the XVI century). However, it was a popular witch-hunting time and the flowering of the Inquisition in Spain. Contrary to public opinion, the Spanish Inquisition developed policies to protect witches from unfair trials at the hands of their own Inquisitors. In many respects, the theologians and philosophers of the Dominican order and the Jesuit Order contributed to this: most of them were sure that every demon's action is just an illusion and what is done by witches is quite different from ordinary human action.