Philosophia libera (Free Wisdom)

Isaac Cardoso

1673

To the Most Serene Prince and to the Most Honorable and Wise Senators of the Venetian Republic

Free Wisdom befits a Free Republic, most Serene Prince, most honorable Senators, whom Freedom of their spirits has rendered outstanding for preserving the security of their Fatherland. The same freedom, seated in noble minds, will open the way to dig…

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Creator Bio

Isaac Cardoso

1604–1683

Born Fernando to a converso family in the village of Trancoso in Beira Alta, Portugal, Isaac Cardoso studied philosophy and practiced medicine in royal courts at Valladolid and Madrid. By 1648, he was living in Venice as a practicing Jew. From 1653, Isaac was a physician in the ghetto of Verona. His Philosophia libera (Free Wisdom, 1673) reflects his Iberian education. Later, following the rise of Sabbateanism—aided by his brother Abraham’s writings—which Isaac opposed, he denounced the study of non-Jewish science and philosophy, and published Las Excelencias de los hebreos (The Excellences of the Hebrews, 1679), an apologetic defense of Jews and Jewish theology.

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