This volume deals with the psychological, metaphysical and scientific ideas of two major and influential Aristotelian philosophers of the Italian Renaissance - Nicoletto Vernia (d. 1499) and Agostino Nifo (ca 1470-1538) - whose careers must be seen as inter-related. Both began by holding Averroes to be the true interpreter of Aristotle's thought, but were influenced by the work of humanists, such as Ermolao Barbaro, though to a different degree. Translations of the Greek commentators on Aristotle (Alexander of Aphrodisias, Themistius and Simplicius) provided them with new material and new ways of understanding Aristotle - Nifo even put himself to learning Greek - and led them to abandon Averroes, especially as regards his views on the soul and intellect. Nevertheless, both Vernia and Nifo engaged seriously with the thought of medieval scholars such as Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas and John of Jandun. Both also showed interest in their celebrated contemporary, Marsilio Ficino.
Table of Contents
Contents: Philosophy and science in Nicoletto Vernia and Agostino Nifo; Marsilio Ficino’s influence on Nicoletto Vernia, Agostino Nifo and Marcantonio Zimara; Nicoletto Vernia on the soul and immortality; Nicoletto Vernia’s annotations on John of Jandun’s De anima; Plato and Aristotle in the thought of Agostino Nifo (ca. 1470-1538); Agostino Nifo and neoplatonism; Agostino Nifo’s early views on immortality; Agostino Nifo’s De sensu agente; Antonio Trombetta and Agostino Nifo on Averroes and intelligible species: a philosophical debate at the University of Padua; Pier Nicola Castellani and Agostino Nifo on Averroes’ doctrine of the agent intellect; Agostino Nifo and Saint Thomas Aquinas; John of Jandun and Agostino Nifo on human felicity (status); Index.
'...significant contributions to Renaissance philosophy... libraries and many individual scholars will find Two Aristotelians of the Italian Renaissance a worthwhile addition to their collections.' Seventeenth-Century News