Luca Burzelli is postdoctoral researcher in History of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Siegen, and member of the De Wulf-Mansion Centre at the KU Leuven. He received the Thomas Ricklin International Award 2024 for his book ‘Pietro Pomponazzi and the Renaissance Theory of the Elements: A Study with Editions of Unpublished Texts’.

Burzelli’s fine study should find a secure place among histories of Renaissance philosophy. He elucidates the philosophical issues and the larger intellectual context with admirable clarity and rigor. The texts offer insight not just about the question of elements, but also about Pomponazzi’s classroom manner, his views about the epistemology of natural philosophy, his pushback against theologians and physicians, and his integration of a panoply of medieval and ancient sources. The last years of Pomponazzi’s life were filled with tumult and acclaim, and we now have a better idea of how his university lectures corresponded to those controversies. - Craig Martin, Vivarium 63, 2 (2025): 180-185, doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/15685349-06302004

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsPart One – EssayI Historical background 1. The elements from antiquity to the Middle Ages 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Aristotle on elements and mixtures 1.3 Towards the medieval debate: intellectuals and methods 2. Four main theories of the elements in the Middle Ages 2.1 Alexander of Aphrodisias 2.2 Avicenna 2.3 Averroes 2.4 The Common Opinion 3. The status quaestionis on the elements at the turn of fifteenth and sixteenth century II Pietro Pomponazzi on the elements 1. Stages of Pomponazzi’s teaching on the elements 2. Pomponazzi’s reconstruction of the medieval debate 3. The interpretation of Avicenna 3.1 Exposition and sources 3.2 Pomponazzi vs Avicenna 4. The interpretation of Averroes and the Averroists 4.1 Exposition and sources 4.2 Pomponazzi vs Averroes 4.3 The comparison with Averroes in the single quaestio (T.6) 4.4 Concluding remarks 5. The Common Opinion 5.1 Exposition and sources 5.2 Pomponazzi vs the Common Opinion 5.3 Final remarks on the Common Opinion 6. Pomponazzi on the elements 6.1 The mixing process and the genesis of mixtures 6.2 Pomponazzi’s sources 6.3 Solution of the aporias of the Common Opinion 6.4 Classification of mixtures 6.5 Final conjectures on mixtures 6.6 An overall judgement III Philological and stylistic aspects of the Edition 1. The present edition: texts and copyists 2. Recensio codicum 3. Descriptio codicum 3.1 Text 1 (Winter 1520/21) 3.2 Texts 2–3 (Winter 1521/22) 3.3 Text 4 (November 1523) 3.4 Text 5 (April 1525) 3.5 Text 6 (uncertain date) 4. Stylistic aspects of Pomponazzi’s lectures 4.1 In between a commentary and a treatise 4.2 Structure of the quaestiones 4.3 Teaching devices 5. The Critical Editions Part two – TextsI. Text 1 – Excerpts from the lecture on De coelo III II. Text 2 – Excerpts from the lecture on De generatione et corruptione I III. Text 3 – Excerpts from the lecture on De generatione et corruptione II IV. Text 4 – Excerpts from the lecture on Meteora IV V. Text 5 – Excerpts from the lecture on De sensu et sensato VI Text 6 – Quaestio de remanentia elementorum in mixto Major dates in the life of Pietro Pomponazzi BibliographyIndexes

Luca Burzelli is postdoctoral researcher in History of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Siegen, and member of the De Wulf-Mansion Centre at the KU Leuven. He received the Thomas Ricklin International Award 2024 for his book ‘Pietro Pomponazzi and the Renaissance Theory of the Elements: A Study with Editions of Unpublished Texts’.

Burzelli’s fine study should find a secure place among histories of Renaissance philosophy. He elucidates the philosophical issues and the larger intellectual context with admirable clarity and rigor. The texts offer insight not just about the question of elements, but also about Pomponazzi’s classroom manner, his views about the epistemology of natural philosophy, his pushback against theologians and physicians, and his integration of a panoply of medieval and ancient sources. The last years of Pomponazzi’s life were filled with tumult and acclaim, and we now have a better idea of how his university lectures corresponded to those controversies. - Craig Martin, Vivarium 63, 2 (2025): 180-185, doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/15685349-06302004

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsPart One – EssayI Historical background 1. The elements from antiquity to the Middle Ages 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Aristotle on elements and mixtures 1.3 Towards the medieval debate: intellectuals and methods 2. Four main theories of the elements in the Middle Ages 2.1 Alexander of Aphrodisias 2.2 Avicenna 2.3 Averroes 2.4 The Common Opinion 3. The status quaestionis on the elements at the turn of fifteenth and sixteenth century II Pietro Pomponazzi on the elements 1. Stages of Pomponazzi’s teaching on the elements 2. Pomponazzi’s reconstruction of the medieval debate 3. The interpretation of Avicenna 3.1 Exposition and sources 3.2 Pomponazzi vs Avicenna 4. The interpretation of Averroes and the Averroists 4.1 Exposition and sources 4.2 Pomponazzi vs Averroes 4.3 The comparison with Averroes in the single quaestio (T.6) 4.4 Concluding remarks 5. The Common Opinion 5.1 Exposition and sources 5.2 Pomponazzi vs the Common Opinion 5.3 Final remarks on the Common Opinion 6. Pomponazzi on the elements 6.1 The mixing process and the genesis of mixtures 6.2 Pomponazzi’s sources 6.3 Solution of the aporias of the Common Opinion 6.4 Classification of mixtures 6.5 Final conjectures on mixtures 6.6 An overall judgement III Philological and stylistic aspects of the Edition 1. The present edition: texts and copyists 2. Recensio codicum 3. Descriptio codicum 3.1 Text 1 (Winter 1520/21) 3.2 Texts 2–3 (Winter 1521/22) 3.3 Text 4 (November 1523) 3.4 Text 5 (April 1525) 3.5 Text 6 (uncertain date) 4. Stylistic aspects of Pomponazzi’s lectures 4.1 In between a commentary and a treatise 4.2 Structure of the quaestiones 4.3 Teaching devices 5. The Critical Editions Part two – TextsI. Text 1 – Excerpts from the lecture on De coelo III II. Text 2 – Excerpts from the lecture on De generatione et corruptione I III. Text 3 – Excerpts from the lecture on De generatione et corruptione II IV. Text 4 – Excerpts from the lecture on Meteora IV V. Text 5 – Excerpts from the lecture on De sensu et sensato VI Text 6 – Quaestio de remanentia elementorum in mixto Major dates in the life of Pietro Pomponazzi BibliographyIndexes