FONSECA, Pedro da. — Portuguese philosopher and theologian, b. in Proença-na-Nova in 1528, d. in Lisbon on 4 Nov. 1590. He entered the Society of Jesus at the age of twenty. From 1553 to 1561 he taught philosophy at the College of Arts of the University of Coimbra, where he gained immense fame, being called the Portuguese Aristotle. Owing to poor health, he had to leave teaching, which he resumed for only one year in 1564, when he taught theology to his younger confreres. He held various offices in the government of the Society, and in particular was assistant and visitor for Portugal.
In 1564 he published in Lisbon *Institutionum dialecticarum libri VIII*, which reached its 34th edition by 1625. His principal work, however, is his commentary on Aristotle: *Commentationum in libros Metaphysicorum Aristotelis Stagyrinae* in four volumes. The first volume appeared in Rome in 1577. In the third volume, published in 1596, Fonseca states that thirty years earlier he had conceived a doctrine that illuminated the questions of providence and predestination: it was the conception of middle knowledge, and thus he seems to claim priority over Molina, whose *Concordia* dates to 1588. On the other hand, Molina believed that Fonseca had known and used his ideas before they were printed. It is possible that, having lived together for many years (from 1553 to 1567), Fonseca and Molina had discussions on these matters, so that subsequently it was not clear from whom the first idea of the system that bears Molina’s name originated.