Pietro Pomponazzis Erkenntnistheorie

The Renaissance philosopher Pietro Pomponazzi (1462-1525) is mostly known for denying the human mind’s immateriality (and immortality) in accordance with his radical understanding of Aristotelianism. Pomponazzis Erkenntnistheorie attempts to reconstruct his theory of cognition. The author, Paolo Rubini, focuses on Pomponazzi’s scattered views about the mind’s ontological status and cognitive capacities, puts them into the context of Aristotelian-Scholastic psychology, and interprets them by reference to Pomponazzi’s ‘naturalistic’ approach to the human soul. Particular interest is devoted to the role of representations in cognitive acts, the functional link between intellect and imagination, and the process of abstraction. The study is based on Pomponazzi’s published writings about immortality as well as on unpublished records of his lectures about Aristotle’s De anima.