Andrea Cesalpino and Renaissance Aristotelianism - (Bloomsbury Studies in the Aristotelian Tradition)

Book Synopsis

Shedding new light on the understudied Italian Renaissance scholar, Andrea Cesalpino, and the diverse fields he wrote on, this volume covers the multiple traditions that characterize his complex natural philosophy and medical theories, taking in epistemology, demonology, mineralogy, and botany.

By moving beyond the established influence of Aristotle's texts on his work, Andrea Cesalpino and Renaissance Aristotelianism reflects the rich influences of Platonism, alchemy, Galenism, and Hippocratic ideas. Cesalpino's relation to the new sciences of the 16th century are traced through his direct influences, on cosmology, botany, and medicine. In combining Cesalpino's reception of these traditions alongside his connections to early modern science, this book provides a vital case study of Renaissance Aristotelianism.

Review Quotes

"This volume provides an engaging series of studies that set Andrea Cesalpino's philosophical and medical writings within the context of sixteenth-century thought. They show that his allegiance to Aristotelian assumptions did not prevent him from pursuing new lines of enquiry and coming to different solutions." --David Lines, Professor of Renaissance Philosophy and Intellectual History, University of Warwick, UK

"Philosopher and physician, botanist and naturalist, Andrea Cesalpino engaged in many of the most contentious natural philosophical debates of the sixteenth century. The contributors to this volume unravel his complex strands of thought, draw connections within and across his works, and reveal Cesalpino's centrality to early modern intellectual history." --Hannah Marcus, John and Ruth Hazel Associate Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University, USA

About the Author

Fabrizio Baldassarri is Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellow at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy.

Craig Martin is Associate Professor of History of Science and Technology at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy.