The War of the Roses. The Debate between Diego de Ledesma and Benet Perera about the Philosophy Course at the Jesuit College in Rome

Benet Perera started his philosophical career with lecturing philosophy at the Jesuit college in Rome in 1558. Although numerous documents reveal that his lectures were highly appreciated by his listeners, it seems that around the year 1564 Perera’s teachings were criticized by two of his colleagues at Rome, Diego de Ledesma and Achille Gagliardi. They feared Perera would give too much value to the Arab philosopher Averroes and that Perera’s method of teaching would pose a danger to Christian doctrines by raising doubts whether those pious doctrines can be demonstrated within the framework of an Aristotelian philosophy. This article will shed light on the background of this affair by analyzing the questions of how Perera might have provoked the criticism and why his accusers were so keen on putting forward an investigation against Perera. It will become clear that Perera had rather philosophical motives for his method of teaching, whereas especially Ledesma had an explicitly pedagogical rationale for his criticism. By sketching this particular affair this article will also deliver an insight into early Jesuit efforts for and against censorship in teaching philosophy.