Escobar y Mendoza, Antonio (1589-1669)

Spanish theologian. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1604, and was recognized before long as one of the most outstanding advocates of Jesuit doctrine and methods in the field of moral theology. In his writings, which fill 40 folio volumes, Escobar y Mendoza propounded the theory that the morality of a human act is determined by the moral intent of the doer rather than by an inherent moral value of the act itself. This view was regarded by many as conducive to moral laxity, and he was bitterly satirized by Molière, Boileau, and, above all, Pascal. Escobar y Mendoza was born in Valladolid, Spain.