POMPONAZZI, PIETRO

Italian philosopher; b. Mantua, Sept. 16, 1462; d. Bologna, May 18, 1525. Pomponazzi, the son of a wealthy and noble family, studied at the University of Padua under the eminent Aristotelian, Nicolettus Vernias, and received a degree in medicine there in 1487. The next year he began teaching at the same university and continued to do so (except for a three-year interruption) until the university was closed in 1509. He then taught at Ferrara for one year and in 1511 went to the University of Bologna, where he taught until his death.

During his stay at Bologna, Pomponazzi published several philosophical works, the most important being On the Immortality of the Soul (Bologna 1516), which defended the position that the immortality of the soul cannot be demonstrated by reason but must be accepted on faith alone. This writing, though severely attacked, was never actually condemned by the Church. Soon afterward, Pomponazzi wrote two separate defenses: the Apologia (Bologna 1518), written against Gasparo contarini, and the Defensorium (Bologna 1519), directed against Agostino nifo. In 1520 he completed two other important works: De fato, libero arbitrio, praedestinatione et providentia Dei (Basel 1567) and De incantationibus (Basel 1556). At his death he left a number of unpublished works, the majority of which still remain in manuscript.

Pomponazzi has attracted attention in the 20th century for modern elements in his thought that anticipated attitudes common to 17th-century scientists. His On the Immortality of the Soul shows a favorable attitude toward reason and a reliance on sense experience that were uncommon in his day. The conclusions to which he came, combined with his professed orthodoxy and willingness to submit to the authority of the Church, led him to adopt what has been called the theory of double truth. Thus he held the immortality of the soul on the authority of the Church's teaching, but denied that this immortality could be demonstrated by reason unaided by faith.

See Also: aristotelianism; renaissance philosophy.

Bibliography: Works. Tractatus acutissimi … (Venice 1525); Opera …, ed. g. gratarolus (Basel 1567); Tractatus de immortalitate animae, ed. g. morra (Bologna 1954), best bibliog. to 1954; Libri quinque de fato …, ed. r. lemay (Lugano 1957); "On the Immortality of the Soul," The Renaissance Philosophy of Man, ed. e. cassirer et al. (Chicago 1948) 280–381. p. o. kristeller, "Two Unpublished 'Questions on the Soul' of Pietro Pomponazzi," Medievalia et humanistica 9 (1955) 76–101. Literature. a. h. douglas, The Philosophy and Psychology of Pietro Pomponazzi, ed. c. douglas and r. p. hardie (Cambridge, Eng. 1910). f. fiorentino, Pietro Pomponazzi (Florence 1868). c. carbonara, Enciclopedia filosofica, 4 v., (Venice-Rome 1957) 3:1507–11.

[c. b. schmitt]