Nicolò
Leoniceno
Hiro HIRAI
Semence, vertu formatrice et intellect
agent
chez Nicolò Leoniceno
entre la tradition arabo-latine et le renaissance des commentateurs
grecs
Early Science and Medicine, 12 (2007), 134-165.
Abstract
The treatise On Formative Power (Venice, 1506) of Ferrara’s emblematic medical humanist, Nicolò Leoniceno (1428-1524), is one of the first embryological monographs of the Renaissance. It shows, at the same time, the continuity of medieval Arabo-Latin tradition and the new elements brought by Renaissance medical humanism, namely through the use of the ancient Greek commentators of Aristotle like Simplicius. Thus this treatise stands at the crossroad of these two currents. The present study analyses the range of Leoniceno’s philosophical discussion, determines its exact sources and brings to light premises for the early modern development of the concept of formative power, which will end up in the theory of “plastic nature” at the heart of the Scientific Revolution.
1. Introduction
2. Galien : âme végétative et chaleur native
3. Aristote et Pietro d'Abano : chaleur
céleste, intellect et véhicule de l’âme
4. Alexandre d'Aphrodise et
Simplicius : nature interne de la semence
5. Averroès et Thémistius : Idées, intellect
et âme
6. Conclusions