A categoria do lugar no Cursus Philosophicus (1756) do Mato Grosso

Abstract

This work aims to explore the category of space within the contents of the Compendium Philosophicum et Recompilatum (1756), a philosophical course whose authorship is identified with the Franciscan friar Manuel dos Anjos and which belongs to the writings of a Colégio Serenense, located in Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade, then capital of the captaincy of Mato Grosso. The course reaches us through a manuscript catalogued in the Municipal Public Library of Porto under the identification of Ms. 380. Intending to situate this research in a broader socio-historical context, we sought to get data regarding the situation of Vila Bela and Mato Grosso in the mid-17th century, offer an elementary palaeographical analysis of Ms. 380 and identify which were the possible meanings of a Franciscan education, both in general and in the colonial Brazilian context. In possession of this information, we present the contents of the course. Manuel dos Anjos’ text puts Physics as the main element of his course, whose section contemplates the largest share of the document. Therefore, we delimited the object of analysis as the category of place, which is a primordial element of Physics, and through which we can interact with the philosophical text and recognize the influences therein. For the ends of this study, we chose to study the Serenense text’s Physics via an “external critique”, that is, the comparison of the text, as it relates to the idea of place, with other select texts. Among these are the philosophical courses of Johannes Poncius and Edmond Pourchot and other references that deal with the theme of imaginary space.