Early Modern Aristotelianism and the Making of Philosophical Disciplines: Metaphysics, Ethics and Politics

Description

Danilo Facca investigates the contribution of Aristotelianism in the emergence of a system of philosophical disciplines for schools and universities in the late Renaissance and Early Modern age. Facca charts the intellectual context of this process, focusing on the interpretation of Aristotelianism at renowned German, Italian and Polish centres of study including Milan, Padua, Altdorf, Helmstedt, Torun and Gdansk, at a time when the authority of the Aristotelian tradition was under direct threat from the dissemination of Peter Ramus' thought. Each chapter assesses engagement with and criticism of ideas from Aristotelian theoretical and practical philosophy. They bring together the writings of major figures, including Peter Ramus and Bartholomaus Keckermann, and lesser-known academics who have not received sufficient recognition in existing literature, such as Ottaviano Ferrari, Philipp Scherb, Ernst Soner and Franz Tidike. By discussing the relationship of these academics with the Aristotelian legacy, this book reveals how innovative ideas that emerged during the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries were actually formed through the reworking, and even distortion of concepts originally derived from Aristotle.

Danilo Facca is Associate Professor in the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.

What this [book] brilliantly does is to rediscover the intricacies of past debates as well as the tension, the liveliness, and the acrimoniousness that characterised them, breaking the monotony of an all too often simplistic and trite opinion about Renaissance philosophy and early modern Schulphilosophie. * Renaissance and Reformation in Poland * Facca's erudite collection of case studies throws a fresh light on the very notion of a 'philosophy of the schools'. It demonstrates clearly how in the evolution of Aristotelianism in Central Europe, theoretical and didactic concerns were inextricably intertwined and provides new insights into the history of intellectual relations between Italy and Northern Europe. Recommended reading for everyone interested in the intellectual history of Europe in the late 16th and early 17th century. * Stefan Hessbruggen-Walter, Associate Professor, School of Philosophy, HSE University, Moscow * This volume skillfully and eruditely demonstrates how philological and philosophical readings of Aristotle's writings altered the conceptions of metaphysics, ethics, and practical philosophy in the schools, universities, and gymnasia of central Europe. * Craig Martin, Associate Professor, University of Venice, Italy * Danilo Facca's book addresses the revolution in didactics from the 16th century onwards. Exploring metaphysics, politics, and ethics, Facca provides an excellent and vibrant description of the multiplicity of factors at stake in the movement's spread, taking in the work of Ottaviano Ferrari, Philipp Scherb, Cornelius Martini and Franz Tidike. By reconstructing the work of these thinkers Early Modern Aristotelianism provides us with a new angle on late Renaissance philosophical Aristotelianism, currently underrepresented in the scholarship of the period. * Marian A. Wesoly *