Johannes Rudbeckius, Franciscus Toletus, and the Immortality of the Soul

Abstract

The Swedish Lutheran theologian and bishop Johannes Rudbeckius (1581–1646) formulated twelve arguments for the immortality of the soul in two distinct but interrelated dissertations, De animae immortalitate and Propositiones de animae humanae immortalitate, debated respectively in November 1611 in Uppsala and in September 1626 in Västerås. I present the arguments and discuss them critically. Further, I demonstrate that Rudbeckius’s source for his discussion is the commentary on Aristotle’s De anima written by the Jesuit philosopher and theologian Franciscus Toletus (1532–1596), first published in Venice in 1574. Finally, I take up a dissertation authored by Rudbeckius’s student Olaus Gabrielis Felstadius (ca 1590 – ca 1620), De origine et immortalitate animae, debated in June 1611 in Uppsala. Felstadius’s treatment is also shown to be dependent on Toletus’s commentary.