The Transmutations of a Young Averroist: Agostino Nifo’s Commentary on the Destructio Destructionum of Averroes and the Nature of Celestial Influences, 2013
By: Nicholas Holland
Title The Transmutations of a Young Averroist: Agostino Nifo’s Commentary on the Destructio Destructionum of Averroes and the Nature of Celestial Influences
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 2013
Published in Renaissance Averroism and Its Aftermath: Arabic Philosophy in Early Modern Europe
Pages 99–124
Categories Agostino Nifo, Cosmology
Author(s) Nicholas Holland
Publisher(s)
Translator(s)
This chapter examines Agostino Nifo’s analysis of the nature of celestial influence on the sublunary world in his commentary on Averroes’s Destructio destructionum (Tahāfut al-Tahāfut). First it explores how Nifo derives from sources contained in Averroes’s work and through the mediation of Albertus Magnus and other Latin philosophers, the idea that the heavenly bodies may cause ‘spiritual’ or ‘intentional’ as well as physical or corporeal change in the sublunary world. In his commentary (1497) on the fourteenth dispute of the Destructio, Nifo brings this dualist model of celestial influence together with material drawn from Neoplatonic, Hermetic and astrological sources in order to explain the principles of prophecy, alchemy, demonology and magnetism. Where Averroes had associated celestial influence with a form of unintentional causality, Nifo’s account suggests that celestial bodies follow patterns of intentional activity. In this way, celestial bodies are seen as a cause of change in the sublunary world, in general, and on man, in particular. The closing section contrasts Nifo’s method of synthesising conflicting philosophical positions and his defense of astrology with the work of his contemporary and sometime associate Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.

{"_index":"bib","_type":"_doc","_id":"1745","_score":null,"_source":{"id":1745,"authors_free":[{"id":2012,"entry_id":1745,"agent_type":"person","is_normalised":1,"person_id":1482,"institution_id":null,"role":{"id":1,"role_name":"author"},"free_name":"Nicholas Holland","free_first_name":"Nicholas","free_last_name":"Holland","norm_person":{"id":1482,"first_name":"Nicholas","last_name":"Holland","full_name":"Nicholas Holland","short_ident":"NicHol","is_classical_name":0,"dnb_url":"","viaf_url":"","db_url":"","from_claudius":1,"link":"bib?authors[]=Nicholas Holland"}}],"entry_title":"The Transmutations of a Young Averroist: Agostino Nifo\u2019s Commentary on the Destructio Destructionum of Averroes and the Nature of Celestial Influences","title_transcript":"","title_translation":"","main_title":{"title":"The Transmutations of a Young Averroist: Agostino Nifo\u2019s Commentary on the Destructio Destructionum of Averroes and the Nature of Celestial Influences"},"abstract":"This chapter examines Agostino Nifo\u2019s analysis of the nature of celestial influence on the sublunary world in his commentary on Averroes\u2019s Destructio destructionum (Tah\u0101fut al-Tah\u0101fut). First it explores how Nifo derives from sources contained in Averroes\u2019s work and through the mediation of Albertus Magnus and other Latin philosophers, the idea that the heavenly bodies may cause \u2018spiritual\u2019 or \u2018intentional\u2019 as well as physical or corporeal change in the sublunary world. In his commentary (1497) on the fourteenth dispute of the Destructio, Nifo brings this dualist model of celestial influence together with material drawn from Neoplatonic, Hermetic and astrological sources in order to explain the principles of prophecy, alchemy, demonology and magnetism. Where Averroes had associated celestial influence with a form of unintentional causality, Nifo\u2019s account suggests that celestial bodies follow patterns of intentional activity. In this way, celestial bodies are seen as a cause of change in the sublunary world, in general, and on man, in particular. The closing section contrasts Nifo\u2019s method of synthesising conflicting philosophical positions and his defense of astrology with the work of his contemporary and sometime associate Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.","btype":2,"date":"2013","language":"English","online_url":"","doi_url":"10.1007\/978-94-007-5240-5_6","ti_url":"","categories":[{"id":59,"category_name":"Agostino Nifo","link":"bib?categories[]=Agostino Nifo"},{"id":19,"category_name":"Cosmology","link":"bib?categories[]=Cosmology"}],"authors":[{"id":1482,"full_name":"Nicholas Holland","role":1}],"works":[],"republication_of":null,"translation_of":null,"new_edition_of":null,"book":null,"booksection":{"id":1745,"section_of":241,"pages":"99\u2013124","is_catalog":null,"book":{"id":241,"bilderberg_idno":null,"dare_idno":null,"catalog_idno":null,"entry_type":"reference","type":4,"language":null,"title":"Renaissance Averroism and Its Aftermath: Arabic Philosophy in Early Modern Europe","title_transcript":null,"title_translation":null,"short_title":null,"has_no_author":0,"volume":null,"date":"2013","edition_no":null,"free_date":"2013","abstract":null,"republication_of":null,"online_url":null,"online_resources":null,"translation_of":null,"new_edition_of":null,"is_catalog":0,"in_bibliography":0,"is_inactive":0,"notes":null,"ti_url":null,"doi_url":null,"book":{"id":241,"pubplace":"London","publisher":"Springer","series":"International Archives of the History of Ideas","volume":"211","edition_no":null,"valid_from":null,"valid_until":null}}},"article":null},"sort":[2013]}

The Transmutations of a Young Averroist: Agostino Nifo’s Commentary on the Destructio Destructionum of Averroes and the Nature of Celestial Influences, 2013
By: Nicholas Holland
Title The Transmutations of a Young Averroist: Agostino Nifo’s Commentary on the Destructio Destructionum of Averroes and the Nature of Celestial Influences
Type Book Section
Language English
Date 2013
Published in Renaissance Averroism and Its Aftermath: Arabic Philosophy in Early Modern Europe
Pages 99–124
Categories Agostino Nifo, Cosmology
Author(s) Nicholas Holland
Publisher(s)
Translator(s)
This chapter examines Agostino Nifo’s analysis of the nature of celestial influence on the sublunary world in his commentary on Averroes’s Destructio destructionum (Tahāfut al-Tahāfut). First it explores how Nifo derives from sources contained in Averroes’s work and through the mediation of Albertus Magnus and other Latin philosophers, the idea that the heavenly bodies may cause ‘spiritual’ or ‘intentional’ as well as physical or corporeal change in the sublunary world. In his commentary (1497) on the fourteenth dispute of the Destructio, Nifo brings this dualist model of celestial influence together with material drawn from Neoplatonic, Hermetic and astrological sources in order to explain the principles of prophecy, alchemy, demonology and magnetism. Where Averroes had associated celestial influence with a form of unintentional causality, Nifo’s account suggests that celestial bodies follow patterns of intentional activity. In this way, celestial bodies are seen as a cause of change in the sublunary world, in general, and on man, in particular. The closing section contrasts Nifo’s method of synthesising conflicting philosophical positions and his defense of astrology with the work of his contemporary and sometime associate Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.

{"_index":"bib","_type":"_doc","_id":"1745","_score":null,"_source":{"id":1745,"authors_free":[{"id":2012,"entry_id":1745,"agent_type":"person","is_normalised":1,"person_id":1482,"institution_id":null,"role":{"id":1,"role_name":"author"},"free_name":"Nicholas Holland","free_first_name":"Nicholas","free_last_name":"Holland","norm_person":{"id":1482,"first_name":"Nicholas","last_name":"Holland","full_name":"Nicholas Holland","short_ident":"NicHol","is_classical_name":0,"dnb_url":"","viaf_url":"","db_url":"","from_claudius":1,"link":"bib?authors[]=Nicholas Holland"}}],"entry_title":"The Transmutations of a Young Averroist: Agostino Nifo\u2019s Commentary on the Destructio Destructionum of Averroes and the Nature of Celestial Influences","title_transcript":"","title_translation":"","main_title":{"title":"The Transmutations of a Young Averroist: Agostino Nifo\u2019s Commentary on the Destructio Destructionum of Averroes and the Nature of Celestial Influences"},"abstract":"This chapter examines Agostino Nifo\u2019s analysis of the nature of celestial influence on the sublunary world in his commentary on Averroes\u2019s Destructio destructionum (Tah\u0101fut al-Tah\u0101fut). First it explores how Nifo derives from sources contained in Averroes\u2019s work and through the mediation of Albertus Magnus and other Latin philosophers, the idea that the heavenly bodies may cause \u2018spiritual\u2019 or \u2018intentional\u2019 as well as physical or corporeal change in the sublunary world. In his commentary (1497) on the fourteenth dispute of the Destructio, Nifo brings this dualist model of celestial influence together with material drawn from Neoplatonic, Hermetic and astrological sources in order to explain the principles of prophecy, alchemy, demonology and magnetism. Where Averroes had associated celestial influence with a form of unintentional causality, Nifo\u2019s account suggests that celestial bodies follow patterns of intentional activity. In this way, celestial bodies are seen as a cause of change in the sublunary world, in general, and on man, in particular. The closing section contrasts Nifo\u2019s method of synthesising conflicting philosophical positions and his defense of astrology with the work of his contemporary and sometime associate Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.","btype":2,"date":"2013","language":"English","online_url":"","doi_url":"10.1007\/978-94-007-5240-5_6","ti_url":"","categories":[{"id":59,"category_name":"Agostino Nifo","link":"bib?categories[]=Agostino Nifo"},{"id":19,"category_name":"Cosmology","link":"bib?categories[]=Cosmology"}],"authors":[{"id":1482,"full_name":"Nicholas Holland","role":1}],"works":[],"republication_of":null,"translation_of":null,"new_edition_of":null,"book":null,"booksection":{"id":1745,"section_of":241,"pages":"99\u2013124","is_catalog":null,"book":{"id":241,"bilderberg_idno":null,"dare_idno":null,"catalog_idno":null,"entry_type":"reference","type":4,"language":null,"title":"Renaissance Averroism and Its Aftermath: Arabic Philosophy in Early Modern Europe","title_transcript":null,"title_translation":null,"short_title":null,"has_no_author":0,"volume":null,"date":"2013","edition_no":null,"free_date":"2013","abstract":null,"republication_of":null,"online_url":null,"online_resources":null,"translation_of":null,"new_edition_of":null,"is_catalog":0,"in_bibliography":0,"is_inactive":0,"notes":null,"ti_url":null,"doi_url":null,"book":{"id":241,"pubplace":"London","publisher":"Springer","series":"International Archives of the History of Ideas","volume":"211","edition_no":null,"valid_from":null,"valid_until":null}}},"article":null},"sort":["The Transmutations of a Young Averroist: Agostino Nifo\u2019s Commentary on the Destructio Destructionum of Averroes and the Nature of Celestial Influences"]}

  • PAGE 1 OF 1