Sense Knowledge, Experience, and Experiential Science in the Commentary on Aristotle’s De Anima in the Jesuit Course of Coimbra (1598), according to Manuel de Góis, S. J.

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the role of sense knowledge, experience, and so-called experiential science in the Commentary on Aristotle’s De Anima ( DA ) of the 1598 Jesuit Course of Coimbra, to highlight their importance both in the discovery and articulation of the laws of nature and in accessing the wonders of creation. Experiential science takes on a prominent role in conducting an epistemological process that begins with Natural Philosophy and leads into Metaphysics to find its conclusion in Theology, as it is the outcome of sense knowledge arising from experience, as well as intellectual and spiritual knowledge, which is inherent in separate substances.