Scholastica colonialis: Notes on Jerónimo Valera’s (1568-1625) Life, Work and Logic

Jerónimo Valera (1568-1625) occupies a fundamental place in the history of colonial Latin American philosophical thought. His work Commentarii ac quaestiones in universam Aristotelis ac Subtilissimi Doctoris Ioannis Duns Scoti logicam was the first philosophical work to be printed in South America. As such it is of great value for the history of logic and philosophy of language. In this study, after discussing Valera’s career, the author highlights four aspects of Valera’s work: the novelty of a logica in via Scoti; the fact that the extant volume of Valera’s logic contains just the first part of a work divided into two parts, the latter of which has so far not been found; the presentation of representative excerpts of Valera’s Commentarii; the construction of a Table of Contents for the work.