MANSER, GALLUS. - Dominican philosopher and theologian, b. at Bruelisau in Switzerland on 15 July 1866, d. at Fribourg on 20 Feb. 1950. A priest in 1897, he entered the Dominicans at Venlo in Holland. In 1899 at Fribourg in Switzerland he was assigned the chair of logic, ontology and history of philosophy, which he held for 43 years. For four consecutive years he was elected rector of the University (1914-18).

His scientific output is not very extensive. Besides some small monographs and many articles (most of them concerning the history of scholastic philosophy, published in journals, particularly in the Divus Thomas of Fribourg), his masterpiece deserves mention: Das Wesen des Thomismus (Fribourg 1932; 3rd ed. ibid. 1949), in which he intends to demonstrate how the principle the fundamental unifying principle of the Thomistic system is the distinction of being into act and potency. He denied the validity of a sixth way of demonstrating the existence of God, one that started from the natural desire for happiness, and he denied the primacy of the principle of identity, reserving it to the principle of contradiction. Free from the school, he spent his last years publishing two works on natural law according to Thomistic philosophy.

Bibliography

BIBL.: S. De Andrea, In memoria di un grande tomista: p. G. M., in Sapienza, 3 (1950), pp. 366-72 (with bibl. of all M.'s works).

Innocenzo Colosio

@incollection{ec7_manser_gallus, author = {Colosio, Innocenzo}, title = {Manser, gallus}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {1978--1979}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/manser-gallus} }

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Manser, Gallus

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