The Coimbra Aristotelian Course, commonly known as the “Coimbra Course”, corresponds to an important project published by the Coimbra Jesuit School between 1592 and 1606 in order to support the teaching and learning of Aristotelian philosophy both in Coimbra’s College of the Arts and in the University of Évora.
The publication was carried out over three periods. Between 1592 and 1593 emerged commentaries on Physica, De Caelo, Metereologica, Parva naturalia e Ethica ad Nichomacum: Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis Societatis Jesu in octo libros Physicorum Aristotelis Stagyritae (Coimbra, A. Mariz, 1592); Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis Societatis Iesu in quattuor libros De Coelo Aristotelis Stagiritae (Lisboa: S.Lopes, 1593); Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis S. I. in libros Metereororum Aristotelis Stagiritae (Lisboa: S. Lopes, 1593); Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis S. I. in libros Aristotelis qui Parva Naturalia appellantur (Lisboa: S. Lopes, 1593); In libros Ethicorum Aristotelis ad Nicomachum aliquot Conimbricensis Cursus disputationes, in quibus praecipua quaedam Ethicae disciplinae capita continentur (Lisboa: S. Lopes, 1593).
During the second phase, the School published commentaries on De Generatione (1597) e ao De Anima (1598): Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis S. I. in duos libros de generatione et corruptione Aristotelis Stagiritae (Coimbra: A. Mariz, 1597); Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis S. I. in tres libros De anima Aristotelis Stagiritae (Coimbra: A. Mariz, 1598);
The final volume was released in 1606: Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis S. I. in universam Dialecticam Aristotelis (Coimbra: D. G. Loureiro, 1606).
Originated from Coimbra and Lisbon’s printers , the course was created in an organic fashion and came to be used by colleges and universities within and beyond the Society of Jesus, having spread all over Europe, America and the Orient, including India and China. Its international impact and influence on the configuration of modern philosophical thought (on figures such as Descartes, Leibniz, Espinoza, Locke, Hobbes, Marx and Peirce) created an urgent need for the text to finally be made available to 21st century readers in its first complete translation.
The project brings together a team of over 30 researchers (belonging to several research centres) from the complementary specializations of CECH (Greek, Latin, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and Philosophy), combining philological and philosophical studies.