Aristotle's Zoology and its Renaissance Commentators (1521-1601)

Almost neglected in the Middle Ages, Aristotle's libri de animalibus received increasing attention in the Cinquecento, and were often commented on by several professional Aristotelians. Through close scrutiny of unpublished and rare texts, Dr. Perfetti reconstructs this commentary tradition: a parabola that goes from Pomponazzi's lessons on the De partibus animalium (held in Bologna, 1521-23) up to the publication of Cristoforo Guarinoni's Commentaria in primum librum De historia animalium, Frankfurt 1601, and includes other bright lights of the Aristotelian scene, such as Niccolò Leonico Tomeo, Agostino Nifo, Julius Caesar Scaliger, Simone Porzio, Francesco Vimercato, and Cesare Cremonini (while a sort of paragraph zero is devoted to Theodore Gaza). The author pays special attention to the peculiar techniques of analysis employed by each commentator and to the balance between philology, erudition, and natural philosophy. This study also provides a reading key that explains the reasons of this renewed interest for philosophical zoology in the first half of the century and explains why commentators transformed their use of Aristotle's zoology throughout the second half of the century, to reach, eventually, the extinction of exegesis per modum commenti.

Introduction

A postponed occasion: the 15th century preface by Theodore Gaza

I. Scholastic Architecture and Humanist Philology

Pietro Pomponazzi
NiccolಠLeonico Tomeo
Agostino Nifo

II. A new exegetic tradition

Simone Porzio
Francesco Vimercato
Julius Cesar Scaliger

III Discourse on the soul and on methods

Cesare Odoni
Daniel Furlanus
Cesare Cremonini
Cristoforo Guarinoni

Conclusion: the dissolution of a genre

Bibliography
Index locorum Aristotelis
Index nominum

Format: Edited volume - paperback

Size: 240 × 160 mm

268 pages

ISBN: 9789058670502

Publication: October 05, 2000

Series: Ancient and Medieval Philosophy - Series 1 27

Languages: English

Stock item number: 45605