Nicoletto Vernia was an Italian Averroist philosopher, at the University of Padua

University of Padua

The University of Padua is a premier Italian university located in the city of Padua, Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 as a school of law and was one of the most prominent universities in early modern Europe. It is among the earliest universities of the world and the second...

.

Life

He studied at Pavia

Pavia

Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...

, under Paolo da Pergola

Paolo da Pergola

Paolo da Pergola was an Italian humanist philosopher, mathematician and logician. He was a pupil of Paul of Venice.His most important work was probably De sensu composito et diviso.His logical works were printed early....

 in Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, and with Gaetano da Thiene

Gaetano da Thiene (philosopher)

Gaetano da Thiene was a Renaissance philosopher and physician who was born and lived in Padua. A student of Paul of Venice, Gaetano, like his teacher, held an Averroist interpretation of Aristotle's teachings...

 in Padua, graduating with a doctorate in 1458. His first work was on the unitas intellectus, the theory of Averroes on the unity of the soul

Soul

A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...

 and intellect

Intellect

Intellect is a term used in studies of the human mind, and refers to the ability of the mind to come to correct conclusions about what is true or real, and about how to solve problems...

.

In natural philosophy

Natural philosophy

Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature , is a term applied to the study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science...

 he posed the question of the scope of the subject. Following Averroes, he took “mobile being” as the topic, against the scholastic views of Antonius Andreas

Antonius Andreas

Antonius Andreas was a Spanish Franciscan theologian, a pupil of Duns Scotus.He was teaching at the University of Lleida in 1315...

 and John Canonicus. Pietro Barozzi, Bishop of Padua, in 1489 issued a decree limiting academic discussion, and Vernia had to withdraw from his position. He wrote against Averroes, in Contra perversam Averrois opinionem, attacking his views on the immortality of the soul and the unity of the intellect.

His students included Agostino Nifo

Agostino Nifo

Agostino Nifo or Augustini Niphi or Niphas, Latinized as Agustinus Niphus or Augustinus Niphus, was an Italian philosopher and commentator.-Life:...

 and Pietro Pomponazzi

Pietro Pomponazzi

Pietro Pomponazzi was an Italian philosopher. He is sometimes known by his Latin name, Petrus Pomponatius.-Biography:...

. Both Vernia and Nifo changed allegiance from Averroes to the interpretations of Aristotle

Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...

 in certain Greek commentators, one of whom, Themistius

Themistius

Themistius , named , was a statesman, rhetorician, and philosopher. He flourished in the reigns of Constantius II, Julian, Jovian, Valens, Gratian, and Theodosius I; and he enjoyed the favour of all those emperors, notwithstanding their many differences, and the fact that he himself was not a...

, was being translated by Ermolao Barbaro

Ermolao Barbaro

Ermolao or Hermolao Barbaro, also Hermolaus Barbarus , was an Italian Renaissance scholar.-Education:Ermolao Barbaro was born in Venice, the son of Zaccaria Barbaro, and the grandson of Francesco Barbaro...

, a colleague at Padua. As time went on, the commentary On the Soul by Alexander of Aphrodisias

Alexander of Aphrodisias

Alexander of Aphrodisias was a Peripatetic philosopher and the most celebrated of the Ancient Greek commentators on the writings of Aristotle. He was a native of Aphrodisias in Caria, and lived and taught in Athens at the beginning of the 3rd century, where he held a position as head of the...

 was translated into Latin, by Girolamo Donato, and a translation of the commentary attributed to Simplicius

Simplicius

Simplicius may refer to:* Pope Simplicius * Simplicius of Cilicia , philosopher* Simplicius, Constantius and Victorinus , Roman martyrs and saints* Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrix , Roman martyrs and saints...

was also circulated. Vernia's views of the correct interpretation of Aristotle modified in the light of access to these fresh opinions.

Further reading

• Edward P. Mahoney, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Elia del Medigo, Nicoletto Vernia and Agostino Nifo, 1 p. 132 in G.C. Garfagnini,. (editor) Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: Convegno internazionale di studi nel cinqueccentesimo anniversario della morte (1494-1994), (1997) 2 vols.
• Edward P. Mahoney (2000), Two Aristotelians of the Italian Renaissance: Nicoletto Vernia and Agostino Nifo
• D. N. Hasse, The attraction of Averroism in the Renaissance: Vernia, Achillini, Prassico, pp. 131-147 in P. Adamson, H. Balthussen, & M. Stone (editors), Philosophy, science, and exegesis in Greek, Arabic, and Latin commentaries, (2004) London: Institute of Classical Studies,