Verdes Anos

Verdes Anos: Between Classical Studies, Philosophy, Latin, the Conimbricenses, Teaching and Fado.

An interview with Emanuel Nogueira

By Maria Pinho

In this interview, we engage with Emanuel Nogueira from the University of Coimbra, delving into his research and his doctoral project. Our discussion spans a wide array of subjects, including Aristotelian ethics, the Conimbricenses, and the Jesuit School of Coimbra. Additionally, we explore the significance of teaching (and learning) Latin in contemporary contexts and even touch upon the uniquely Portuguese cultural phenomenon of… fado.

Sobre Emanuel Nogueira

Emanuel Nogueira is a PhD Candidate in Classical Studies at the University of Coimbra. He graduated in Philosophy, with a minor in Classical Studies, from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Coimbra, having completed the coursework program of the Master’s degree in Philosophy in the same institution. He is a collaborating researcher in the Centre for Classical and Humanistic Studies, where he works mainly in the field of Jesuit Studies and the “Conimbricenses”. He is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Latin. As a doctoral fellow, he researches the reception of aristotelian ethics in the “Jesuit School of Coimbra”.

Interview

Maria Pinho: Why did you opt to pursue studies in Classical Studies and Philosophy during your academic journey as a student?

Emanuel Nogueira: At the end of secondary school, when it came the time to choose a degree and I thought about it seriously for the first time, philosophy immediately came to mind. Although I came from a very different background (I studied arts at secondary school), I had been interested in philosophy since I was a child and had struggled with some of the questions that philosophy deals with, and having studied philosophy at secondary school confirmed my interest in it. Classical studies came about on the one hand, because of the interest I developed in medieval philosophy, and, on the other, because I was fascinated by learning a language like Latin. In the second year of my degree, I decided to do a minor in Classical Studies, which focussed mainly on Latin, although I also took some Greek and Classical Culture courses. I went on to do an MA in Philosophy and ended up doing a PhD in Classical Studies, where I combine the two areas.

MP: Considering your area of expertise and research focus, it’s evident why you chose to delve into the study of Latin. However, how does mastering this “dead language” shape your worldview and understanding of the contemporary world?

EN: Learning any language opens a new world for you, but in the case of Latin, that world is the cultural and historical matrix of so-called “Western society”. I think that learning a language with such a wide cultural, geographical and temporal reach as Latin gives us a certain sense of universality, or at least broadens the boundaries of our cultural references, and that can only be a good thing, especially since this broadening doesn’t just take place in the present, but also extends into the past. For the same reason and others, I hope to learn other ancient languages in the future, such as Arabic or Sanskrit.

MP: Would you recommend other young individuals, whether they’re aspiring researchers or not, to undertake the study of Latin? If so, what are your reasons behind this recommendation, or if not, what factors inform your perspective?

EN: Yes, definitely. First of all, I think Latin is very valuable for those studying humanities and indispensable in certain areas. There are, of course, those reasons that are usually invoked, such as learning the etymology of words or grammar, which is very useful especially for native speakers of Romance languages. However, even outside the field of languages, Latin requires a great deal of mental gymnastics which, like math, is very useful for developing reasoning and other mental processes, and is therefore beneficial for people in any field. On the other hand, and in addition to the reasons given in the previous question, Latin is a beautiful language, and it is, at least for me, a great pleasure to be able to read texts in this language, especially classical works of the highest literary quality, because Latin has a beauty of its own that is lost in translation. Now that I know Latin, I feel that I would be culturally and even spiritually incomplete without it.

MP: Your doctoral project delves into a fascinating realm of research, focusing on the study of the “Conimbricenses”. Could you provide a brief explanation of what this entails?

EN: In my doctoral project, I’m studying the reception of Aristotelian ethics at the Jesuit school in Coimbra. When we talk about “Conimbricenses” we can refer to two things. Firstly, the set of commentaries on Aristotle produced in Coimbra at the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, which make up a philosophy textbook that is known as the “Coimbra Commentaries”, “Cursus Conimbricensis” or, according to the title under which most of the volumes were published, “Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis Societatis Iesu”. On the other hand, we can refer to the authors of these commentaries and other Jesuit professors who taught philosophy, not only in Coimbra, but also in Évora. When I study the reception of Aristotelian ethics in the Jesuit school of Coimbra, I study not only the Cursus Conimbricensis, but also the philosophical production of the colleges of Coimbra and Évora, more specifically the lessons on the Nicomachean Ethics that have come down to us in the form of manuscripts. My research, on the one hand, focuses on more formal and regulatory issues in the teaching of the ethics and, on the other hand, on the manuscript commentaries written before and after the publication of the Cursus, in order to understand the evolution of the ethical thought of the Conimbricenses, the choices made by Manuel de Góis in writing the volume of the Cursus dedicated to ethics, and the legacy left by the Cursus in the thought and teaching of ethics in the school of Coimbra.

MP: Within the scope of your PhD thesis centered on commentaries on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, which commentaries have intrigued or surprised you the most thus far?

EN: There’s a manuscript that really surprised me, not so much because of its content, but because of the circumstances in which it was produced. Let me explain. Before the publication of the Cursus, there was a common text that was dictated in the philosophy classes at the College of Arts in Coimbra and the University of Évora, which must have appeared between 1567 and 1570, at least in the case of ethics. There are many manuscripts that reproduce this text, which were written in class by the students while they listened to the teacher’s dictation. In the case of the Nicomachean Ethics, there were already some that had been identified by António Banha de Andrade, and I was able to identify others in my research. Now, one of these manuscripts was probably dictated in Coimbra at the school of a religious order other than the Society of Jesus in 1570 or 1571, i.e. practically at the same time as this common text appeared. This reveals not only the authority that the Jesuits had in teaching philosophy, but also that this authority predates the fame that the publication of the Cursus earned them. We already knew that the Cursus was used by other religious orders, but we didn’t know that the same happened with this common text. In the end, it’s natural that this was the case because the College of Arts, although autonomous, was a school of the University of Coimbra, and many students who were not Jesuits passed through there and, after finishing their courses, took with them the handwritten lessons that they could dictate, as teachers, in the schools of their orders.

MP: Do you perceive any contemporary relevance or applicability of these commentaries to the modern world, or can they be connected to present-day contexts in any meaningful manner?

EN: Yes, I think that ancient and scholastic philosophy in general have a lot to tell us even today. There is, first of all, a very important contribution that can be made in current philosophical debates. I’m thinking, for example, of the debate on the nature of consciousness and of two philosophers in particular who, although they come from different traditions, one Thomist, the other Neoplatonic, have made very important contributions to this debate, Edward Feser and David Bentley Hart, who are also good disseminators of philosophy among the general public. On the other hand, in the case of ethics, this contribution goes beyond philosophical debates and can have real applicability in people’s lives, precisely because it is a practical philosophical discipline. I believe that ethics like Aristotle’s, which seeks happiness and promotes personal development and flourishing, responds to many of the desires we have today, and can in fact have very positive impacts on people’s lives, especially in secularized societies where the religious sense that guided people’s lives in the past has been lost. For this reason, although the commentaries I study are mainly of interest to academics, Aristotelian ethics, as systematized and developed by the scholastic tradition, can be very contemporary.

MP: Who is your preferred “Conimbricense” author, and what aspects of their work appeal to you the most?

EN: The answer to that question is not easy. I’m very fond of Luís de Molina because of his doctrine of Scientia media (middle knowledge), which I think is brilliant. However, Pedro da Fonseca said that he taught it first. Here we find a characteristic of the Conimbricenses, which is that it is a philosophical school where it can be difficult to distinguish the particular ideas of each author involved. In the case of the Cursus, for example, although we know who wrote each book, it is difficult to know to what extent the ideas written there correspond to the author’s own opinions or reflect common opinions. In any case, the Cursus was published under the collective authorship of the Coimbra Jesuit college and was therefore intended to reflect a common mindset. One of the aims of the course, in fact, was the uniformity of doctrine in order to prevent the teaching of heterodox ideas in the colleges of the Society of Jesus, and its writing was based on this common text that had already been dictated previously.

MP: You analyze documentation that was primarily crafted to serve as compendiums aiding students in their academic pursuits. These materials achieved significant success and widespread dissemination throughout Europe in their time. As a professor today, do you believe these pedagogical “manuals” retain their validity?

EN: Shortly after its publication, the Cursus Conimbricense turned out to be too long to be used as a manual. Descartes is also known to have criticized the Coimbra Commentaries he studied at the Collège de La Fléche, which he accused of being “trop longs”. The Cursus is at the end of the history of the medieval commentary, and in the 17th century alternative manuals were produced by Portuguese Jesuits, no longer in the form of the scholastic commentary, but in that of the treatise. In addition to uniformity of doctrine, the Cursus aimed to put an end to the practice of dictation, which took up a large part of the lessons and was very painful for the students, in order to leave more time available for debate and allow the students to really pay attention to what the teacher was saying and not just record every word. I think that many philosophy students today can partly identify with this and would very much like the idea of having the subject matter of the entire course systematized in a textbook, which they could study from and which would save them the need to take notes, a practice which the publication of the Cursus at the time sought to eradicate, but which has survived to the present day. Of course, the circumstances of philosophy teaching today are very different. There is no official doctrine to be taught in universities, as there was in those days, and professors have freedom and autonomy in teaching their subjects. Even so, I think the use of textbooks with systematized knowledge, chosen or produced by the teacher, can be very useful.

MP: As a young researcher, operating within the context of the contemporary Portuguese academic landscape which often tends to segregate research and teaching, do you find it beneficial and meaningful to engage in teaching alongside your research endeavors?

EN: Yes. I think that for those who, as well as researching, enjoy teaching, as I do, it’s good to be able to combine the two. On the other hand, research is usually a very solitary activity, and teaching allows us to break that usual solitude. I also find it exciting to be able to take the results of research into the classroom.

MP: On a more personal note, I understand you’re skilled in playing the Portuguese guitar. Could you share your favorite fado song with us?

EN: Yes, more specifically Coimbra guitar. It’s a very difficult choice, but I think one of the songs that had the greatest impact on me when I started discovering Coimbra Fado, and still does, is Luiz Goes’ “Romagem à Lapa”, both lyrically and musically.