Suarez on Genius and Melancholy

Abstract

Aristotle in the Problems (Section XXX, q. 1), states that excessive black bile (atrabilis or melancholy) can be a disease; but, the atrabilis in moderate doses, it can be the organic foundation of genius. This is the doctrine also maintained by Galen and the Aristotelian medieval interpreters. This text was widely discussed by Renaissance physicians and philosophers (Juan de Aviñón, Bernardino Montaña, Bartolomé Felipe, Pedro Mercado, Francisco Valleriola, and Juan Huarte de San Juan). In the Baroque period, it was a recurring theme in psychology, medicine, art, theology and literature. Some physicians attribute diabolic traits to melancholy associated with astral movements (Andrés Velázquez, Francisco Vallés, Alfonso de Santa Cruz). In the romanticism the figure of the genius picks up the features developed by the medicine of the baroque period. Suarez could not ignore the question and briefly addressed it in his commentary on De anima with a physiological or “naturalistic” interpretation of genius: Physiology determined the conditions and phenomena of genius. Other theologians, such as Báñez, maintain a more flexible interpretation: Intellectual habits (e.g., study and work) incline to the acquisition of a melancholic character. But neither Suárez nor Báñez attribute to melancholy either devilish or astral traits. Refs 24.