Juan Luis Vives

Born: 1493 in Valencia, Spain
Died: 1540 in Habsburg, Netherlands

Education and Work

In 1507 he began his university studies in the University of Valencia.
In 1509 due to the persecution of non-Christians in Spain his father sends him to study at Sorbonne University in Paris during the fall season.
In 1512 he received his PhD in Philosophy and art.
In 1522 he was offered a teaching post at University of Alcala (in Spain), but he rejected it and went to Oxford to teach Humanities and Jurisprudence.

One of the most prominent figures advocating humanistic learning in the 16th century.
Has been called the “father” of modern Psychology given that his ideas precede Bacon, Descartes, and Wundt.
His book De anima et vita has been cited numerous times and was one of the first to make the connection between body and mind.
Some of Descartes’s writings are heavily influenced by Vives’s work.
One of the earliest advocates for the study of learning and memory.
One of the first people to see the study of Psychology as a useful tool for all disciplines.