Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
The University of Upsala was founded in 1477 and was naturally
saturated with the tlieology and scholastic phiiosophy which then
pre-vailed. Aeistotle reigned supreme in the philosophical camp except for
the inroad which had been made by the anti-Aristotelian doctrine of
Ramus. The Cartesian Controversy began in the Faculty of Medicine,
where the first Cartesian in Sweden, Olaus Martini Stenius, had been
Professor. He was the teacher and predecessor of the famous anatomist
and author of »Atlantica», Olof Rudbeck. Professors Rudbeck and
Hoffwenius, both of the Faculty of Medicine, had studied in Holland,
where Descartes had spent twenty years of his life and acquired a great
influence. In 1663, in connection with a disputation of Hoffwenius, the
rumor began to be spread that Cartesianism had entered Upsala, which
led to complaint on the part of the priests, in session at Stockholm.
That the Cartesian movement met with opposition is also shown by some
lines which a teacher in Linköping sent to Upsala by the hands of some
departing students. He wrote: »Would that the atoms, pores, and
efflu-via of the sun might not obtain too great a dominion in your academy,
so that the young men are drawn away by the desire for novelty from
the useful and ancient manner of philosophizing, so that when returning
to their parents they cause more pain than honor, not knowing anything
else but how to prattie about atoms, etc.» Although there was not
lack-ing sympathy in the Consistory with this complaint, it was
neverthe-less felt that such an admonition was rather strong and that
itwaspro-duced by *imbeccilitas animn, so the Rector was instructed to give the
author, Andreas Ajalinus, a »scrape». The discussion concerning
Cartesianism might not have become so acute during the early period of
the controversy had not some of the professors been prepared to
wel-come an opportunity for revenging themselves upon Olof Rudbeck, who
had shown himself to be an unflinching euemy of laxity and
incom-petence.
All the prominent representatives of the revolutionary Cartesianism
were professors in the Faculty of Medicine, and when Professor
Hoffwenius in a disputation gave evidence that Cartesianism had entered the
University, the House of Priests took up the question in the
Parlia-ment of 1664. The proposal that the lectors of physics in the
gymna-sia should also be medical men was rejected, and for the reason that
most of them were Cartesians. A deputation of priests was sent to the
Chancellor, Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie, to prevail upon him to pre-
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
