On 5 October, Juan Ángel Soto, founder and Secretary General of Escuela Hispánica, took part in the discussion “The Foundations of the School of Salamanca” at the Ibero-American Forum on Hispanic Heritage, “Hispanic Legal Tradition”. Organised by EL ESPAÑOL and the Community of Madrid, the event took place in the Salón de Pasos Perdidos at the Spanish Senate. Soto joined historian José Varela Ortega in a conversation moderated by Víctor Núñez, an opinion editor at EL ESPAÑOL.
The discussion placed the School of Salamanca within Second Scholasticism and the intellectual, political and economic challenges of the first globalisation. Marking five centuries since Francisco de Vitoria took up the chair of Theology at Salamanca, Soto recalled a tradition encompassing Domingo de Soto, Francisco Suárez, Juan de Mariana, Martín de Azpilcueta and Tomás de Mercado.
The university and international dimensions of this tradition were central to the conversation. Salamanca emerged as the centre of a wider intellectual network connected to other Iberian and European universities. Its method of debate and comparison of arguments sought moral and practical answers to the transformations of its time.
Soto also emphasised the consent of the governed and limits on taxation. He argued for recovering the Hispanic contribution to Western political thought and bringing it into dialogue with the Anglo-American tradition.
The final part of the conversation addressed the Valladolid controversy and the possibility of subjecting the exercise of power to moral scrutiny. Soto connected this historical reflection to contemporary challenges and the need for principles that restrain authority.
Escuela Hispánica’s participation forms part of its work to research and share the Hispanic tradition of liberty: studying its sources, debating its reach and bringing its questions into public discussion today.
