Acceso usuarios
Juan Pablo Domínguez
This article examines the apparent contradiction between Benito Jerónimo Feijoo’s critical remarks about Inquisitor General Francisco Pérez de Prado in a private letter from 1747 and the numerous passages in his Teatro crítico universal and Cartas eruditas y curiosas, in which he praised the Inquisition, defended the rightness of its judgments, and criticized those who disregarded its censorship. It concludes that Feijoo’s private criticism of Pérez de Prado does not necessary imply a broader rejection of the Inquisition and that his frequent praise of the Holy Office is consistent with his view of the Church’s authority as the ultimate boundary of intellectual freedom. In light of Feijoo’s conception of inquisitorial and ecclesiastical authority, the article further raises the question of whether he sought to position Spain at the forefront of European philosophy and science or was content with gradually importing and selectively filtering knowledge produced outside its borders.
