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Leonardo Choi

SUMARY

The Catholic Enlightenment in Spain

This paper is intended to be an introduction to the Catholic Enlightenment in Spain. I am

going to study the life and the works of four representative figures of the Ilustracion

Catolica en España (Even though there are some important people such as Gregorio de

 Mayans, who were left out because it would exceed the limits of the paper). They are (in

chronological order): Benito Jeronimo Feijoo, Antonio Tavira, Gaspar Jovellanos

 Melchor and Jaime Balmes. Feijoo was one of the top figures in the first Enlightenment

(1720-1750).1 He was an innovator in the field of essays and historical criticism. He also

severely criticized the delay of the universities in Spain, where the scholastic thinking

was still predominating, which prevented the introduction of modern science.2 Tavira was

a bishop of Salamanca that excercised so much infuence in the field of Education. He was

well know in Spain for his commitment to science and reason.3 Jovellanos was a

contemporary with Tavira. In the 18th century he was considered to be one of the key

figures in the Spanish Enlightenment.4 He was a reformist and intended to make changes

in the institutions and customs of his time. Jaime Balmes lived at the beginning of the

1 Luis Gil Fernández, La Cultura Española En La Edad Moderna (Madrid: Istmo, 2004), 414.

2 Ibid., 415.

3 Antonio Tavira y Almazán and Joël Saugnieux, La ilustración católica en España: escritos de D. Antonio

Tavira, obispo de Salamanca (1737-1807) (Salamanca, España; [Oviedo]: Ediciones Universidad de

Salamanca ; Centro de Estudios del Siglo XVIII, Universidad de Oviedo, 1986), 230 – 2.4 Antonio Domínguez Ortiz, Carlos III y la España de la Ilustración (Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1988),

299 – 300.

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Leonardo Choi

19th century. He was an important figure in the late enlightenment and also considered to

 be the most influential philosopher in Spain at that time.

Maybe the most important fact about the Enlightenment in Spain is that all

the enlightened stayed within the Catholic Church. Therefore, there were not any deists

or atheists among them. As Antonio Mester  and Pablo Perez Garcia states: ―To reject the

religious sincerity of our enlightened would constitute a mistake.‖

5

 This is what led some

historians to talk about a ―Catholic Enlightenment‖ in Spain. They were supporters of the

―lights of reason‖ and at the same time very respectful of the ―divine light‖. Because

reason and religion shared the same ―natural light‖ made by the Creator.6 

In this paper I would like to show how the Enlightenment was received by

Spanish scholars of the 18th century, and how they combined this with their religious

devotions.

5 Gil Fernández, La Cultura Española En La Edad Moderna, 530.

6 Pedro Ruiz Torres, Reformismo e ilustración ([Barcelona]; [Madrid]: Crítica ; Marcial Pons, 2008), 432– 

3.

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Leonardo Choi

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alvarez Gómez, Jesús. Manual de historia de la Iglesia. Buenos Aires: Editorial

Claretiana, 1979.

Balmes, Jaime Luciano. Cartas a un escéptico en materia de religión. Madrid: Espasa-

Calpe, 1967.

 ——— . El criterio. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1964.

 ——— . Ética. Madrid: Hernando, 1935.

Cortés Peña, Antonio Luis. Historia del cristianismo. III, III,. Madrid; Granada: Ed.

Trotta ; Universidad de Granada, 2006. 

Domínguez Ortiz, Antonio. Carlos III y la España de la Ilustración. Madrid: Alianza

Editorial, 1988.

Feijoo, Benito Jerónimo, Millares Carlo, Agustín. Teatro Crítico Universal, tomo XIII. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1958.

Ferrater Mora, José. Diccionario De Filosofía. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana,

1965.

Fundación Foro Jovellanos del Principado de Asturias. ―Cuadernos de investigación.‖Cuadernos de investigación, 2008.

Gil Fernández, Luis. La Cultura Española En La Edad Moderna. Madrid: Istmo, 2004.

Israel, Jonathan I, and Ana Tamarit. La ilustración radical: la filosofía y la construcciónde la modernidad : 1650-1750. México, D. F.: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2012.

Jovellanos, Gaspar Melchor de, Caso González, José Miguel. Obras completas. Tomo I .Oviedo: Centro de estudios del siglo XVIII, 1984.

Jovellanos, Gaspar Melchor de, Caso González, José Miguel, Negrin Fajardo, Olegario.Obras completas Tomo XIII-XIV . Oviedo: Instituto Feijoo de Estudios del Siglo XVIII :Ayuntamiento de Gijón : KRK Ediciones, 2010. 

Jovellanos, Gaspar de, Cándido Nocedal, and Miguel Artola. Obras publicadas é inéditasde Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos. Madrid: Impr. de los Sucesores de Hernando, 1924.

McClelland, I. L. Benito Jerónimo Feijóo,. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1969.

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