Nikola Vitov Gucetic
Encyclopedia
Republic of Ragusa
The Republic of Ragusa or Republic of Dubrovnik was a maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia , that existed from 1358 to 1808...
statesman, philosopher, science writer from the Republic of Ragusa
Republic of Ragusa
The Republic of Ragusa or Republic of Dubrovnik was a maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia , that existed from 1358 to 1808...
and author of one of the first scientific dissertations regarding speleology
Speleology
Speleology is the scientific study of caves and other karst features, their make-up, structure, physical properties, history, life forms, and the processes by which they form and change over time...
.
Life
Gučetić was a citizen of the Republic of Ragusa. He received most of his educationEducation
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
in Dubrovnik and in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. He was the central person in the cultural life in Dubrovnik in his time and owned probably the biggest private library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
in town.
Rarely traveling outside the limits of town, he was occupied by trade
Trade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
, finances, and other official duties for the city-state
City-state
A city-state is an independent or autonomous entity whose territory consists of a city which is not administered as a part of another local government.-Historical city-states:...
. Elected duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
of Dubrovnik seven times at the turn of the 17th century, he devoted his life to the prosperity of the city.
Pope Clement VIII
Pope Clement VIII
Pope Clement VIII , born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was Pope from 30 January 1592 to 3 March 1605.-Cardinal:...
awarded him an honorary doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in philosophy as well a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
. Gozze was highly regarded for his works related to philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
, sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, and pedagogy
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
.
Gučetić married Maria Gundulić-Gučetić, who was a philosopher too, and wrote La querelle des femmes u renesansnom Dubrovniku. The dedication written in her husband's book Discorsi di m. Nicolò ; Vito di Gozze sopra le metheore d'Aristotile. Ridotti in dialogo e divisi in quatro giornate under the title "Alla non men bella, che virtuosa e gentil donna Fiore Zuzori in Ragugia" Venetiis, 1582, is an extraordinary discourse in Ragusan heritage, given in the first place in the defence of the authors' friend Cvijeta Zuzorić
Cvijeta Zuzoric
Cvijeta Zuzorić was a lyric poetess from the Republic of Ragusa. She wrote mainly in Italian, but even sometimes in Serbo-Croatian language.-Life:...
("Fiore Zuzori") but also the other women. Marija was uncompromisingly critical towards the Dubrovnik society that attacked her friend. Her criticism was so sharp that censorship was imposed on it. Marija's dedication has a theoretical value as well because it constitutes a part of a huge debate on the worth of women led in Europe from the 14th century on. The article puts her text in the context of this debate.
Works
Gučetić wrote in the ItalianItalian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and Latin:
- Commentaria in sermonem Auer. De substantia orbis, et in propositiones de causis 1580
- Dialogo d'amore detto Antos, secondo la mente di Platone 1581
- Dialogo della Bellezza detto Antos, secondo la mente di Platone 1581
- Sopra le Metheore d' Aristotile ("About AristotleAristotleAristotle 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...
's meteors"), first in 1584 and in 1585 the second edition, in VeniceVeniceVenice 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...
.- This work is a comment on explanations of natural phenomena according to the principles of natural philosophy given by AristotleAristotleAristotle 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...
.
- This work is a comment on explanations of natural phenomena according to the principles of natural philosophy given by Aristotle
- Dello stato delle republiche secondo la mente di Aristotele 1591
- Discorsi della penitenza 1589
- Governo della famiglia 1589
On winds and caves
In a part of the book "About Aristotle's meteors" relating to the meteorologyMeteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
which discuss the phenomenon of wind
Wind
Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...
, the writer mentions two caves noted to generate very strong winds at their entrances:
- Šipun cave near Cavtat in the Dubrovnik area
- An unnamed cave in Popovo polje in HerzegovinaHerzegovinaHerzegovina is the southern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While there is no official border distinguishing it from the Bosnian region, it is generally accepted that the borders of the region are Croatia to the west, Montenegro to the south, the canton boundaries of the Herzegovina-Neretva...
– most probably today's VjetrenicaVjetrenicaVjetrenica is the largest and most important cave in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and one of the most interesting caves in the Dinaric Alps mountain range, which is famous worldwide for its karstic and speleological riches. Its entrance it not far from the village of Zavala in southern Herzegovina...
cave (vjetar=wind)
Based on these observations, Gučetić explained the origin of winds in general and winds in some caves by the process of evaporation
Evaporation
Evaporation is a type of vaporization of a liquid that occurs only on the surface of a liquid. The other type of vaporization is boiling, which, instead, occurs on the entire mass of the liquid....
of the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
's elements which is caused by the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
. Being warm, dryer and denser, the evaporation medium is unable to penetrate the Earth through its surface, but only through the large openings and that is what produces wind. Gučetić noted that wind cannot be observed deeper inside the cave, but only at the entrance. He explained that by the acceleration
Acceleration
In physics, acceleration is the rate of change of velocity with time. In one dimension, acceleration is the rate at which something speeds up or slows down. However, since velocity is a vector, acceleration describes the rate of change of both the magnitude and the direction of velocity. ...
of the air current
Air current
Air currents may be caused by differences in temperature, pressure, or impurity concentration. Temperature differences can cause air currents because warmer air is less dense than cooler air, causing the warmer air to appear "lighter." Thus, if the warm air is under the cool air, air currents will...
in narrower passages, similar to the that one of the sea current in narrow sea passages.
In the case of a windless šipun cave, Gučetić stated that this phenomenon
Phenomenon
A phenomenon , plural phenomena, is any observable occurrence. Phenomena are often, but not always, understood as 'appearances' or 'experiences'...
is not universal for all caves. He explained the absence of wind on its entrance by its higher humidity and presence of a lake
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
in one or more of possible passages. According to his opinion, the bigger amount of water is favorable for the growth of stygobites and troglobite
Troglobite
Troglobites are small cave-dwelling animals that have adapted to their dark surroundings. Troglobite species include spiders, insects, fish and others. They live permanently underground and cannot survive outside the cave environment. Troglobite adaptations and characteristics include a heightened...
s which are abundant in the šipun cave.
The noble family
Nikola Vitov Gučetić is just one member of well known noble family, as is the writer Dživo Gučetić (1451–1502). The family is known for erecting the oldest arboretumArboretum
An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...
in the world, in Trsteno
Trsteno
Trsteno is a village northwest of Dubrovnik in southern Croatia, population 237 . The name probably comes from the word trska which means reed. It is located on the magistral road between the villages Orašac and Slano.-Trsteno Arboretum:...
near Ragusa (see House of Gučetić).
See also
- Republic of RagusaRepublic of RagusaThe Republic of Ragusa or Republic of Dubrovnik was a maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia , that existed from 1358 to 1808...
- List of notable Ragusans
- House of Gučetić
- DubrovnikDubrovnikDubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
- DalmatiaDalmatiaDalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
- History of DalmatiaHistory of DalmatiaThe History of Dalmatia concerns the history of the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and its inland regions, stretching from the 2nd century BC up to the present....