Martinus Smiglecius (another Latin variant: Martinus Leopolitanus, also Polish: Marcin Śmiglecki, Lithuanian: Martynas Smigleckis[1]; c. 1564 – 1618) was a Polish Jesuit philosopher, known for his erudite scholastic Logica of 1618.
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He was born in Lvov c. 1564. He used the surname Lwowczyk, or Leopolitanus, and then later adopted the name Smiglecius (from Szmigel) because of his family background.[2]
After study in Rome, he returned in 1586 to the University of Vilnius. He wrote also a book on economics, O Lichwie (On Usury) (1596).[3] In 1599 he took part in a public disputation with the Protestants Marcin Janicki and Daniel Mikołajewski. It was recorded by Martin Gratian Gertich.[4]
The Logica was several times reprinted, in particular at Oxford where it was in use as a textbook.[5] It harked back to Gregory of Rimini, discussing mental propositions.[6] As a textbook author his reputation survived in the satirical poem The Logicians Refuted[7], attributed to both Jonathan Swift and Oliver Goldsmith. Samuel Johnson, writing in 1751 in The Rambler, claimed that as student he "slept every night with Smiglecius on my pillow."[8]
In a live controversy of the time, Smiglecius sided with Benedictus Pereyra against Giuseppe Biancani. The issue was the status of mathematical proof in physics, where Pereyra denied mathematics an essential status.[9]