Ens Rationis in Caramuel

 

The seventeenth century scholastic philosophy was very much the philosophy of passionate research in
cognitive ontology. Thus, mind-dependent entities (beings of reason, entia rationis) stood at the center 
of attention and extensive debates. During the century, the attitudes towards beings of reason changed 
profoundly: at the beginning their existence was universally accepted, at the end there was widespread doubt 
about them. The crucial role in this dramatic shift of opinions seems to be played by Caramuel y Lobkowitz. The 
paper aims to investigate Caramuel’s last word on beings of reason in Leptotatos (1681). The focus of the paper 
will be on the philosophical reasons for the rejection of their existence.