Pomiń baner

Dr hab. Tomáš Nejeschleba: Renaissance Philosophy in Italy and Central Europe

Termin: 09.04.2019 - 10.04.2019
Miejsce: Instytut Filozofii, s. 85
Organizator: Zakład Filozofii Polskiej

Renaissance Philosophy  in Italy and Central Europe

Tuesday, April 9, 4 pm, room 85
I.  Pomponazzi and Gasparo Contarini on the immortality of the soul
Gasparo Contarini, a former student of Pietro Pomponazzi, ranks among the most important opponents of his Tractatus de immortalitate animae. Contarini accepts Pomponazzi’s starting point in the discussion on immortality. He is only interested in dealing with the immortality of the soul within the limits of natural reason in line with Pomponazzi. In contrast to Pomponazzi, Contarini’s goal is to demonstrate that immortality is connected with truths which can be grasped through natural reasoning and not only by faith as emphasized by Pomponazzi. Contarini generally follows Thomas Aquinas’ position, which Pomponazzi deviated from. However, he is inclined to an acceptance of certain Platonic elements into the Aristotelian structure of argumentation. Since Pomponazzi views Aquinas’ approach as a non-valid philosophical argumentation, Contarini has to revise it in order to avoid this critique of Pomponazzi’s.  Contarini rejects the dependence of the human intellect on the senses and the fantasy, as it was proclaimed by Pomponazzi, and considers the human soul as a self-actuating immaterial form that does not need the aid of fantasy for achieving knowledge.


Tuesday, April 9, 5.30 pm, room 85
II. Florentine Platonism in Vernacular: Ficino and Pico in Czech humanistic translations
One of the first translations of Marsilio Ficino into the vernacular is a translation of two letters, De officiis and Veritas de institutione principiis, into Czech, which were printed in Prague around the year 1500. Although the identity of the translator is uncertain, a Czech humanist Řehoř Hrubý of Jelení (circa 1460 – 1514) known as a translator of the works of Erasmus and of Italian humanists seems to be a good candidate for the authorship. The second translation of Ficino’s letter Veritas de institutione principiis into Czech was published in 1520 by Oldřich Velenský of Mnichov (1495 – 1531). Both the Czech humanistic translations of Ficino’s letters will be examined in the lecture and will be placed into the context of the Czech humanistic movement at the beginning of the sixteenth century, which emphasized in particular the moral topics of Italian Renaissance Platonism. It will be argued that these Ficino’s letter fulfilled moral claims of Czech pre-reformation and reformation thought of the beginning of the 16th century.  

Wednesday, April 10, 4 pm, room 85
III. Light and Void: Valeriano Magni's vacuum Experiments and their philosophical background
The subject of the lecture is the interpretation of a series of experiments proving the existence of vacuum. This was performed by the Capuchin Valerian Magni in 1647 in Warsaw and described in the treatise Demonstratio ocularis, which is the first printed text referring to successful experiments with vacuum. The work generated great controversy at the time, not only with opponents of void, but also with French scholars, who accused Magni of plagiarism. Both the situation around the work’s publication and the reaction to it will be reconstructed in the lecture, with an aim of presenting the philosophical background behind Magni’s experiments. Magni understood the experiments as confirmation of his anti-Aristotelianism, and placed them among his metaphysics and natural philosophy, in which he attributes the key epistemological and ontological function to light.

Wednesday, April 10, 5.30 pm, room 85
IV. Anatomical Renaissance: the philosophical background of Renaissance anatomical projects
The lecture focuses on the philosophical background of the anatomical Renaissance of the second half of the sixteenth century. This period is considered of crucial importance for the development of modern anatomy. Three different anatomical approaches (Andreas Vesalius, Realdo Colombo, Girolamo Fabrici ab Aquapendente) can be distinguished in the sixteenth century. The differences stem from the various philosophical views the anatomists follow. This also led to different anatomical discoveries including both minor and major blood circulation. The broader context of the lecture is the relationship between philosophy and medicine in the given period and methodological discussions concerning the role of anatomy and medicine in general in contemporary science.

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Data opublikowania: 01.04.2019
Osoba publikująca: Anna Tomaszewska