Conditional knowledge, devised by Molina and Fonseca, is the starting point for reconciling freedom with God's decrees
Of all the devices the schools have produced for reconciling human freedom with the certainty and unchangeableness of God's decrees about human acts, the one that has spread most widely is so-called conditional knowledge. The Jesuits Luis de Molina and Fonseca were the first to hold that the key to this reconciliation must be sought there. Very many have followed them since, both in the Roman school and among the Protestants themselves.
So, God willing, as we take up the agreement of human freedom with the divine decrees and set out the various views of the teachers on the question, we have thought it right to begin with this knowledge.
Latin
THESIS I. INter ea quae sunt in Scholis excogitata ad conciliandam libertatem humanam cum certitudine & immutabilitate decretorum divinorum circa actus humanos, increbuit in primis scientia illa conditionata, ex qua rationem istius conciliationis petendam esse censuerunt Ludovicus Molina & Fonseca Jesuitae primi, & post eos plurimi, tum in Schola Romana, tum inter ipsos Protestantes. Itaque, Deo favente, de concordia Libertatis humanae cum decretis divinis acturi, & varia Doctorum placita ea de re exposituri, ab illa scientia initium sumendum nobis esse merito duximus.