Gianfrancesco Pico Della Mirandola (1469–1533) and His Critique of Aristotle

266 Pages·1967·2.62 MB·English

by  Charles B. Schmitt (auth.)

GIANFRANCESCO PICO DELLA
MIRANDOLA
(r 469-r 533)
ARCHIVES INTERNATIONALES D'HISTOIRE DES IDEES
INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE HISTORY OF IDEAS
CHARLES B. SCHMITT
GIANFRANCESCO PICO DELLA
MIRANDOLA
(1469-1533)
AND
HIS CRITIQUE OF ARISTOTLE
Directors: P. Dibon (Paris) and R. Popkin (Univ. of Calif omi a, La Jolla)
Editorial Board: J. Aubin (Paris); J. Collins (St. Louis Univ.); P. Costabel (Paris);
A. Crombie (Oxford); I. Dambska (Cracow); H. de la Fontaine-Verwey (Amsterdam);
H. Gadamer (Heidelberg); H. Gouhier (Paris); T. Gregory (Rome); T. E. Jessop (Hull);
t
A. Koyre (Paris); P. O. Kristeller (Columbia Univ.); Elisabeth Labrouose (Paris); S.
Lindroth (Upsala); P. Mesnard (Tours) ;J. Orcibal (Paris); I. S. Revah (Paris); G. Sebba
(Emory Univ., Atlanta); R. Shackleton (Oxford); J. Tans (Groningen); G. Tonelli (Pisa).
CHARLES B. SCHMITT
GIANFRANCESCO PICO DELLA
MIRANDOLA
{I469-1533)
AND
HIS CRITIQUE OF ARISTOTLE
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V. - 1967
ISBN 978-94-011-9681-9 ISBN 978-94-011-9679-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-9679-6
Copyright 1967 by Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague. NetherlandY in 1967
Ali rights reseroed, inciuding the right to translate or to
reproduce this book or paris thereof in any form
FOR KATE
PREFACE
The origins of this book go back to I956 when it was suggested to me
that a study on the philosophy of Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola
would furnish an important addition to our knowledge of the philoso
phy of the Italian Renaissance. It was not, however, until I960 that I
could devote a significant portion of my time to a realization of this
goal. My work was essentially completed in 1963, at which time it was
presented in its original form as a doctoral dissertation in the Phi
losophy Department of Columbia University. Since then I have made
many minor improvements and several chapters have been extensively
reworked.
This study represents the first attempt in fifty years to give a
detailed account of even a portion of Gianfrancesco Pico's life and
thought. The most comprehensive previous study, Gertrude Bramlette
Richards, "Gianfrancesco Pico della lv1irandola" (Cornell University
Dissertation, I 9 I 5), which I have found very useful in preparing my
own book, is largely based on secondary literature and is mistaken in a
number of details. Furthermore, Miss Richards' treatment of Gian
francesco Pico as a thinker is very sketchy and is not an exhaustive
study of his own writings. It is hoped that my present study, built in
part on her extensive bibliographical indications, brings forth a certain
amount of new information which will be of value for further research.
In the course of my research on Gianfrancesco Pico I have incurred
numerous debts which it is now my pleasant duty to acknowledge. It is
hoped that the end result is worthy of the inconvenience which it has
caused so many people. The opportunity to consult many of the manu
scripts and rare editions, as well as the opportunity to devote my un
divided attention to this study for two full years, would hardly have
been possible without generous grants from the United States Govern
ment for study in Italy during the years I96I-63. Especially am I
VIn PREFACE
grateful to Miss Cipriana Scelba and her staff of the Commissione
Americana per gli Scambi Culturali con l'Italia for contributing in so
many ways to making my stay in Italy both pleasant and fruitful. I
would also like to thank Fordham University for making a grant availa
ble to me for aid in defraying the cost of the final preparation of the
manuscript.
The libraries and archives in which the research for this book was
carried out have in almost every case proved to be most helpful in
providing the necessary materials. Special mention is due those two
great establishments where by far the larger part of research was carried
out: The Columbia University Libraries (with particular mention of
the staff of Special Collections) and the Biblioteca N azionale Centrale
of Florence (especially the staff of the "Sala di Consultazione" and the
"Sala del Rinascimento"). The other libraries in which I have worked
for periods of time varying from less than an hour to more than a month
are many, but I feel that each should be given the proper credit. In the
United States, I wish to thank the Boston Public Library; the Harvard
University Libraries and the Andover Theological Seminary Library
of Cambridge; the Yale University Library of New Haven; the Union
Theological Seminary Library, the New York Public Library, the
Pierpont Morgan Library, and the New York Academy of :Medicine
Library, all of N ew York; the Princeton University Library; and the
University of Chicago Library and the Newberry Library of Chicago.
Among the many Italian libraries which I used the following must be
remembered: the Biblioteca Comunale and the Biblioteca Universi
taria in Bologna; the Biblioteca Comunale in Carpi; the Biblioteca
Comunale in Ferrara; the Archivio di Stato, the Biblioteca Marucel
liana, the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, the Biblioteca Riccardiana,
the Biblioteca della Facolta di Lettere e Filosofia, the Library of the
Kunsthistorisches Institut, and the Library of the Harvard University
Center for Renaissance Studies (Villa I Tatti) in Florence; the Biblio
teca Governativa in Lucca; the Archivio di Stato, and the Biblioteca
Comunale in Mantua; the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, the Biblioteca
N azionale Braidense, and the Biblioteca Trivulziana in Milan; the
Biblioteca Comunale in Mirandola; the Archivio di Stato, the Biblio
teca Estense, and the Biblioteca Universitaria in Modena; the Biblio
teca Antoniana, the Biblioteca Comunale, the Biblioteca del Semina
rio, and the Biblioteca Universitaria in Padua; the Biblioteca Palatina
in Parma; the Biblioteca Comunale in Perugia; the Biblioteca Angeli
ca, the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuale II, the Biblio-
PREFACE IX
teca Vallicelliana, and the Biblioteca del Convento di Santa Sabina in
Rome; the Biblioteca Comunale in Siena; the Biblioteca N azionale
Marciana in Venice; and the Biblioteca Bertoliana in Vicenza. The
courteous and efficient staff and the incomparable collection of the Bi
blioteca Apostolica Vaticana made my task much easier in many ways.
The other European libraries of which I made use and to which I must
render thanks include: the Bodleian Library at Oxford and the British
Museum Library in London; the Bibliotheque Royale in Brussels; the
Bibliotheque N ationale and the Bibliotheque Mazarine in Paris; the
Stadtbibliothek in Nuremberg, the Bayrische Staatsbibliothek and
Universitatsbibliothek in Munich; and the Oesterreichische National
bibliothek in Vienna; and the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid, the Bi
blioteca del Escorial, and the Biblioteca Universitaria in Barcelona. I
would also like to thank the following libraries (in addition to some of
the above) for providing me with photographic reproductions of mate
rials in their possession: the Cornell University Library, the Folger
Shakespeare Library of Washington, D.C., the University of Illinois
Library, and the Biblioteca Casanatense in Rome.
Of those persons who aided me in the preparation of this study I
should like to thank above all Professor Paul Oskar Kristeller of Co
lumbia University, who first suggested that I undertake this study and
whose patient and knowing help at all stages of the work has been as
generous as it had been illuminating. Thanks are also due to Professors
Joseph Blau, Arthur Hyman, Joseph A. Mazzeo, John C. Nelson, and
John Herman Randall, Jr., all of Columbia University, for many
helpful suggestions. Especial thanks must go to Professor Sears R.
Jayne of Queens College of the City University of New York and
Professor Neal Ward Gilbert of the University of California (Davis)
for having read the entire manuscript with care and thereby making
many improvements - both stylistic and factual - on an earlier draft.
Professor Edward P. Mahoney of Duke University has offered many
helpful suggestions for the improvement of the manuscript and our
many long discussions - both in Italy and in New York - of the Re
naissance philosophy, have increased immeasurably my own under
standing of the whole period. Dr. C. H. Clough's careful reading of
Chapter I has saved me from several serious errors and several of his
suggestions have resulted in major improvements. Professor Paul F.
Cranefield of Rockefeller University and Professor Joseph I. Budnick
of Fordham University have made helpful suggestions regarding the
technical aspects of medicine and physics in so far as they touch my
x
PREFACE
book. Professor Robert C. Fox of St. Francis College (Brooklyn),
Professor Richard Goldthwaite of Kent State University, Profes
sor Paul Grendler of the University of Toronto, Professor Jerrold
Seigel of Princeton University, and Professor Donald Weinstein of
Rutgers University have all read parts of the present study and
have given me suggestions which have made it better than it other
wise would have been. To Mr. Herbert }'1atsen of Converse College I
am indebted for many helpful aids, both regarding the techniques of
scholarly research in the Renaissance period and regarding practical
hints for fruitful study in Italy. Professor Richard Popkin of the Uni
versity of California (San Diego) gave me several useful indications on
the study of early modern scepticism. The members of that learned
assembly, the Columbia University Seminar in the Renaissance, pa
tiently heard me read a portion of one chapter and their ensuing dis
cussions clarified several important points. Mr. Philip vVeimerskirch of
the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Library has called to my attention
more than once to items of bibliographical importance which otherwise
might have escaped my notice. Professor Renzo Amedeo of Garessio,
Reverend Thomas Kaeppeli, O.P. of the Convento di Santa Sabina in
Rome, Professor Eugenio Massa of the University of Pis a, and Professor
Alessandro Perosa of the University of Florence helped to make my stay
in Italy more fruitful by aiding my studies in various ways. To my
friends at Mirandola, the late Giovanni Cavicchioli and Dott. Arrigo
Marazzi, I am indebted for several kindnesses and I can only hope that
this book in some way recalls the past glory of that citta antica e nobilis
sima. To Miss Eva Hoenig of New York, who has twice typed this dif
ficult manuscript, I tender my sincerest thanks; the inconveniences
that she had to undergo to meet various deadlines few will know. Final
ly, to my wife Catherine, who bore our son in a then unfamiliar country
and who had to undergo many hardships for the sake of this study, I
offer my gratitude which must of necessity fall short of what which is
due her.
The author gratefully acknowledges permission granted by the
Renaissance Society of America to use substantial portions of the
article "Who Read Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola?", which
first appeared in Studies in the Renaissance XI (1964).