Sandra Bihlmaier

Platonism in Humanist Logic Textbooks of the Sixteenth Century: Melanchthon, Ramus and the
Philippo-Ramists

The paper examines the relevance of Platonic and Neoplatonic assumptions for two famous concepts of Humanist logic in the Renaissance: Melanchthon's Erotemata dialectices and Ramus's Dialecticae libri duo, and their assimilation into four different sixteenth-century Philippo-Ramist textbooks. It argues that both Melanchthon's and Ramus's shared meta-logical implications, as well as the influence of these implications on the particular understanding, structure and function of dialectic are mirrored by the later Philippo-Ramist attempts to harmonize their doctrines. By uncovering the epistemological implications behind such concepts as "nature", "intellect" and "natural light" and their bearing on the Humanist concepts of dialectic, some new light can be shed on the way late sixteenth-century authors assessed, compared and joined the at times divergent heritage of their Humanist teachers. This paper thus contributes to the assessment of the origins and development of a particular understanding of logic in late sixteenth-century Protestant Germany.

Jan Čížek

Petr Chelčický and Jan Amos Comenius: Between the Idea of Non-Violence and the Concept of
Universal Tolerance

Our aim in this study is to examine the attitude to violence expressed in the works of two leading figures in the history of Czech philosophical thought. Several scholars in the field of Comeniology have expressed the belief that not only clear parallels but also direct continuity can be traced between the views of Petr Chelčický and those of Jan Amos Comenius. To make a proper judgement as to whether Comenius and Chelčický shared identical attitudes to the question of the legitimacy of violence, we focus first on Comenius's climactic work, in which his point of view is most fully expressed. Subsequently we analyse Chelčický's views and compare them with Comenius's attitude. A comparison of the works of the two thinkers leads to the conclusion that on the one hand Comenius's key opinions are much more comprehensively founded; on the other, he does not restrict himself to a critique of physical violence but also deals with the spiritual struggle. Any analogy between Chelčický and Comenius's attitude to violence can therefore be related only to the early works of Comenius in which his concept of universal tolerance was not yet thoroughly thought through. The study therefore focuses on the issue of the development of Comenius's concept of tolerance as well.

Jacques Joseph

Henry More: The Spirit of Nature as Imaginatio Dei

The paper presents Henry More's doctrine of the Spirit of Nature. Through a thorough analysis of both his earlier and later work, it shows in which regards he draws from traditional Neo-Platonic notions of a soul of the world and in which regards he transforms it in order to fit it into the framework of early modern natural philosophy. The guideline is an attempt to map possible parallels between the functions of imagination on a microcosmic scale and the Spirit of Nature on a macrocosmic one. Although this parallel cannot be pushed through to its ultimate consequences within More's system, it nevertheless proves to be fruitful. Both the Spirit of Nature and the imagination are for More something ambivalent, both noble and gross, on the edge between body and soul. As such, however, they are remnants of More's early gradualism that are in conflict with the psycho-physical dualism he endorsed in his later work.

Radmila Prchal Pavlíčková

Narratives of Conversion: The Depiction of a Change of Faith in Sixteenth-Century Lutheran
Funeral Sermons

This study focuses on Lutheran sermons at funerals of the first generation of followers of the teachings of Martin Luther. It provides an analysis of the content of passages in which conversion to Lutheranism is described, with the aim of capturing topical schemes, the motivational and thematic construction of the narrative, and if possible the relationship of the text to previous literary tradition and similar genres, especially in comparison with other texts categorised as "conversion narratives". The specific quality of descriptions of conversions in funeral sermons relies on the fact that they are reports by somebody else, always composed by a priest who, thanks to his profession, enjoys special authority. Next, the descriptions of the conversions originated some time after the actual conversion, always in connection with the death of converts, and as
a part of the consequent burial rituals and commemorative practices. Finally, they are parts of texts that were intended for the comfort and instruction of the bereaved and the creation of a good memorial for the deceased. These aspects provide some of the specific characteristics in descriptions of conversions in the funeral sermons, above all the extent of the description of post-conversion life, thus establishing the ideal behaviour and virtue of the convert. Another important motif is the successful culmination of the conversion through the keeping of the faith during the time of dying and death.

Sergio García Rodríguez

Descartes on Drugs: The Limits of the Cartesian Intervention in Body and Mind

This paper aims to analyze René Descartes' attitude to drugs as forms of intervention which can help to delimit the spaces of the Cartesian correct and incorrect ways to transform the world. For this purpose, the paper distinguishes between medical and recreational drugs in order to give a proper account of the Cartesian position. Furthermore, the analysis focuses on historical and philosophical reasons which explain Descartes' attitude.

Kateřina Šolcová

Johannes Jessenius's Pro vindiciis contra tyrannos Oratio and the Reception of Monarchomachy
in the Bohemian Lands

The paper deals with the monarchomachic work Pro vindiciis contra tyrannos Oratio by Johannes Jessenius (Jan Jesenský, 1566–1621). Jessenius's work is first concisely put into the context of the author's life and his philosophical work, then into connection with the political thinking of the 16^th and the beginning of the 17^th centuries. The work is noteworthy because of the fact that its author projected his theoretical ideas into the actual political struggle, specifically in the context of the Estates Uprising that took place in the Bohemian lands in 1618–1620. A critical edition of Jessenius's work follows the introductory study.