- B.A. Università degli Studi di Macerata
M.A. Università degli Studi di Macerata
Ph.D. Università del Salento/Université Paris 4-Sorbonne
Post-Doc SNF Universität Luzernedit
This essay investigates the way in which Wolff takes an interest in the hypothesis of an emendatio of the prima philosophia from Leibniz's incitement in De primae philosophiae emendatione, et de notione substantiae (1694) to re-found... more
This essay investigates the way in which Wolff takes an interest in the hypothesis of an emendatio of the prima philosophia from Leibniz's incitement in De primae philosophiae emendatione, et de notione substantiae (1694) to re-found metaphysics. This makes it possible, secondly, to examine the way in which Wolff takes Johannes Clauberg's ontology as a model, even though it represents in his view only a failed attempt at that same emendatio. Through the analysis of the texts, this article considers the possibility of a new reading of the 'failure' attributed by Wolff to Clauberg, which would consist in his having 'emended' first philosophy by expelling it from the domain of ontology and finally identifying it with Cartesian prima philosophia.
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The 17th century is the century that records the greatest number of meanings attributed to prima philosophia, a sign that this is evidently one of the notions for which a reformulation is needed. It is possible to find at least five... more
The 17th century is the century that records the greatest number of meanings attributed to prima philosophia, a sign that this is evidently one of the notions for which a reformulation is needed. It is possible to find at least five definitions of prima philosophia, in addition to the more widespread one according to which philosophy is said to be 'prima' both by virtue of the universality (being qua being) and the eminence (God and separate intelligences) of its object, and which derives from a reading of Aristotle's Metaphysics. This paper intends to reconstruct, without any claim to exhaustiveness, some of the main definitions of prima philosophia that occurred in the 17th century, starting with the most innovative one due to Descartes, which certainly had the greatest influence on subsequent history, surpassing, in fact, the other definitions, including the one that arose within the reformed scholasticism and of which Clauberg represents, at least at first, a spokesman. On the other hand, I will include in this review a brief survey of some theses that are more or less eccentric to Descartes' position, namely those of Thomas Hobbes, Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus and Francis Bacon.
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Through the acquisition of new material relating to the Schola Illustris in Moers, we can assert that Johannes Clauberg received his first instruction in theoretical philosophy during the two years he spent in Moers (1637-1639). In... more
Through the acquisition of new material relating to the Schola Illustris in Moers, we can assert that Johannes Clauberg received his first instruction in theoretical philosophy during the two years he spent in Moers (1637-1639). In particular, information on the texts used for the teaching of metaphysics allows us to show that at Moers Clauberg became acquainted with the doctrine of the intelligible through Matthias Martini’s Idea Methodica, a work in the school’s library among the texts addressed to students of the prima classis. This allows us not only to trace the direct filiation of this doctrine - a doctrine that Martini takes from Timpler - but also to state that Clauberg became aware of it well before his time at the Gymnasium in Bremen (1639-1644).
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In this paper I shall discuss conceivability as a logical and gnoseological principle, focusing on early-modern ontology, rationalism and empiricism. Specifically, I intend to show that early-modern ontology (Clauberg) develops as a... more
In this paper I shall discuss conceivability as a logical and gnoseological principle, focusing on early-modern ontology, rationalism and empiricism. Specifically, I intend to show that early-modern ontology (Clauberg) develops as a hyper-ontology at the expense of the principle of conceivability, which rationalist ontology (Tschirnhaus) employs to guarantee the centrality of the subject and the logical-real possibility of its objects. Subsequently, empiricism (Hume) turns the principle of conceivability into a metaphysical criterion with an exclusively logical import, i.e. views it as separate and distinct from the domain of real things. In this context, the golden mountain is the fictitious object representing the principle of conceivability.
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The history of metaphysics in Geneva during the Early Modern period is linked to the figure of David Derodon (c. 1600–1664), a French Calvinist philosopher and theologian. He argues that metaphysics is the science of the being common to... more
The history of metaphysics in Geneva during the Early Modern period is linked to the figure of David Derodon (c. 1600–1664), a French Calvinist philosopher and theologian. He argues that metaphysics is the science of the being common to corporeal and incorporeal (i.e. spiritual) substances, and that for this reason it must be distinguished from pneumatics and somatics. It is, in other words, a strongly “ontologized” metaphysics that deals with neutral things. The purpose of this article is to show the diffusion of this definition from France to Switzerland until its use by the Cartesian Jean-Robert Chouet (1642–1731), professor at the famous Academy of Geneva founded by Calvin in 1559. Chouet went even further by giving a new name to this version of metaphysics, that of ontology (or ontosophia), and by introducing the Cartesian cogito.
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A recent study by P.R. Blum suggests the hypothesis of an ideal line from Scotus to Mastri, passing through Perera, which would tend towards a new concept of metaphysics attainable through the use of abstraction by indifference. This... more
A recent study by P.R. Blum suggests the hypothesis of an ideal line from
Scotus to Mastri, passing through Perera, which would tend towards a new concept of metaphysics attainable through the use of abstraction by indifference. This essay intends to test this hypothesis starting from the way in which Perera questions the unity of metaphysical abstraction through a series of innovative interpretations that are widely received in both Catholic and Reformed and Protestant domains. A first interpretation, less radical, advances a model of metaphysical abstraction, taken up by Mastri and Micraelius, which maintains the unity of metaphysics; a second interpretation, more radical, breaks the methodological unity of metaphysics through a clear distinction between ‘real’ abstraction from matter (secundum rem et rationem) and ‘mental’ abstraction by indifference (secundum rationem tantum) and, consequently, between metaphysics and ontology.
Scotus to Mastri, passing through Perera, which would tend towards a new concept of metaphysics attainable through the use of abstraction by indifference. This essay intends to test this hypothesis starting from the way in which Perera questions the unity of metaphysical abstraction through a series of innovative interpretations that are widely received in both Catholic and Reformed and Protestant domains. A first interpretation, less radical, advances a model of metaphysical abstraction, taken up by Mastri and Micraelius, which maintains the unity of metaphysics; a second interpretation, more radical, breaks the methodological unity of metaphysics through a clear distinction between ‘real’ abstraction from matter (secundum rem et rationem) and ‘mental’ abstraction by indifference (secundum rationem tantum) and, consequently, between metaphysics and ontology.
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This essay aims to make a preliminary and exploratory study of some differences between Meinong, and his Gegenstandstheorie, and the ontology of Johannes Clauberg (1622-1665), a German reformed philosopher belonging to the Schulmetaphysik... more
This essay aims to make a preliminary and exploratory study of some differences between Meinong, and his Gegenstandstheorie, and the ontology of Johannes Clauberg (1622-1665), a German reformed philosopher belonging to the Schulmetaphysik tradition and the author of
one of the most systematic treatises on ontology of his day. My main issue concerns the extension of the objects of science in question and the inclusion of impossible objects, as well as how to achieve this extension. Like Meinong, Clauberg regards impossible objects as the favoured place to put his doctrine to the test.
Keywords: Being, Clauberg, Intelligible, Impossible Objects, Metaphysics, Ontology.
one of the most systematic treatises on ontology of his day. My main issue concerns the extension of the objects of science in question and the inclusion of impossible objects, as well as how to achieve this extension. Like Meinong, Clauberg regards impossible objects as the favoured place to put his doctrine to the test.
Keywords: Being, Clauberg, Intelligible, Impossible Objects, Metaphysics, Ontology.
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The results of Schulmetaphysik in Giessen: Johann Christian Lange and the debate over ontology (1708) · Johann Christian Lange (1669-1756), a Pietist theologian and philosopher, is the successor of the school of metaphysics of Giessen.... more
The results of Schulmetaphysik in Giessen: Johann Christian Lange and the debate over ontology (1708) · Johann Christian Lange (1669-1756), a Pietist theologian and philosopher, is the successor of the school of metaphysics of Giessen. His predecessors (Scheibler, Ebel and Rudrauff ) adopt the Suarezian model to promote the integration of special metaphysics into general metaphysics according to a specific tendency of Schulmetaphysik. Lange, on the other hand, seems to break this tradition by encouraging the central role of ontology in the acquisition of the sciences, in opposition to downgrading it to a mere philosophical lexicon. Ontology is not a tool, but the science of the primum conceptibile, and it is autonomous and separate from theology.
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I examine in this paper the cases of three authors (Clauberg, Du Hamel and Tschirnhaus) who share the attempt to identify, in the context of the prima philosophia understood as ontology, a principle which must be first in the order of... more
I examine in this paper the cases of three authors (Clauberg, Du Hamel and Tschirnhaus) who share the attempt to identify, in the context of the prima philosophia understood as ontology, a principle which must be first in the order of knowledge. In so doing they ideally confront themselves with Descartes' opinion, according to which the first principle necessarily lets us know the existence of something which must be for us the best known of all. This debate concerns the relationship between the principle of non contradiction and the Cartesian cogito, but also the relationship between the principle of non contradiction and the principle of the excluded third, which maintains, under certain conditions, the primacy in ontology.
Questo lavoro intende prendere in esame il caso di tre autori (Clauberg, Du Hamel, Tschirnhaus) che condividono il tentativo di individuare, in seno alla prima philosophia intesa come ontologia, un principio che sia primo nell'ordine della conoscenza. Nel farlo si pongono idealmente in dialogo con quanto Descartes sostiene a proposito della necessità che il primo principio ci faccia conoscere l'esistenza di qualcosa, che sia per noi la più nota. Il dibattito verte allora sul rapporto tra principio di non contraddizione e cogito cartesiano, ma anche sul rapporto tra principio di non contraddizione e principio del terzo escluso, là dove quest'ultimo, a certe condizioni, sembra mantenere un primato in ontologia.
Questo lavoro intende prendere in esame il caso di tre autori (Clauberg, Du Hamel, Tschirnhaus) che condividono il tentativo di individuare, in seno alla prima philosophia intesa come ontologia, un principio che sia primo nell'ordine della conoscenza. Nel farlo si pongono idealmente in dialogo con quanto Descartes sostiene a proposito della necessità che il primo principio ci faccia conoscere l'esistenza di qualcosa, che sia per noi la più nota. Il dibattito verte allora sul rapporto tra principio di non contraddizione e cogito cartesiano, ma anche sul rapporto tra principio di non contraddizione e principio del terzo escluso, là dove quest'ultimo, a certe condizioni, sembra mantenere un primato in ontologia.
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The question of nothing has been examined in many recent books: this shows how scholars have shared the need to analyse the history of philosophy as a history of non-being, or rather, a history of a concept which operates in various ways... more
The question of nothing has been examined in many recent books: this shows how scholars have shared the need to analyse the history of philosophy as a history of non-being, or rather, a history of a concept which
operates in various ways and on many levels within the dialectic of being. The history of non-being is a discontinuous history and this review of some recent studies reveals effectively the extensions and limits of this discontinuity.
operates in various ways and on many levels within the dialectic of being. The history of non-being is a discontinuous history and this review of some recent studies reveals effectively the extensions and limits of this discontinuity.
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This is the first bibliography collecting all studies that have been entirely devoted to Johannes Clauberg or that contain a substantial discussion of his works, from the early nineteenth century down to our day, namely, in the age when... more
This is the first bibliography collecting all studies that have been entirely devoted to Johannes Clauberg or that contain a substantial discussion of his works, from the early nineteenth century down to our day, namely, in the age when scientific philosophical historiography arose and reached full maturity. Clauberg (1622–1665), known as a representative of modern German reformed scholasticism (Schulmetaphysik)—in this context, he is the author of one of the most systematic treatises on ontology of his day—is among the first followers of Descartes. Leibniz praised Clauberg’s commentaries on Descartes’s works, and described him as a disciple who surpassed his master in clarity. This bibliography reveals Clauberg’s versatility in treating some of the major questions in the history of modern philosophy: metaphysics and ontology—also taking into account the neologism ontologia—cartesianism, logic, hermeneutics, physics and occasionalism.
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This chapter examines how the philosophy of Descartes contributed to Clauberg's philosophical system. In this system it is metaphysics that imposes itself on the other sciences, as its contents impose themselves according to the order of... more
This chapter examines how the philosophy of Descartes contributed to Clauberg's philosophical system. In this system it is metaphysics that imposes itself on the other sciences, as its contents impose themselves according to the order of knowledge. The core of Clauberg's adherence to Cartesianism is thus linked to his conviction that Descartes’s philosophy is, above all, the discovery of the true “beginning” (initium) of philosophy, that is, the discovery of a principle that guarantees the primacy of metaphysics, established according to the order of knowledge. Clauberg aims to identify
the first science, according to the order of knowledge of things (ordo cognitionis) as well as the order of teaching (ordo doctrinae), and consequently to establish the organization of all knowledge.
the first science, according to the order of knowledge of things (ordo cognitionis) as well as the order of teaching (ordo doctrinae), and consequently to establish the organization of all knowledge.
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This paper tracks the evolution of the meaning of the word ‘ontology’, and of the science referred to by that name, in the most important 17th century lexica: Rudolph Goclenius’ Lexicon philosophicum (1613); Johannes Micraelius’ Lexicon... more
This paper tracks the evolution of the meaning of the word ‘ontology’, and of the science referred to by that name, in the most important 17th century lexica: Rudolph Goclenius’ Lexicon philosophicum (1613); Johannes Micraelius’ Lexicon philosophicum (1653), and Étienne Chauvin’s Lexicon rationale (1692).
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Johannes Clauberg is the author of one of the first treatises of ontology, which belongs to the Schulmetaphysik context. Clauberg published his Elementa Philosophiae sive Ontosophia in 1647 and he continued to revise it, publishing two... more
Johannes Clauberg is the author of one of the first treatises of ontology, which belongs to the Schulmetaphysik context. Clauberg published his Elementa Philosophiae sive Ontosophia in 1647 and he continued to revise it, publishing two further editions (1660 ; 1664). In all of them, there is not a systematic discussion about the analogia entis and yet, analogy seems to be the main conceptual instrument of the same ontology, i.e. the generale science, other than theology, whose object is the ens quatenus ens est. This very use of analogy as the base of the “ontologization” of metaphysics will receive the criticism of Jacob Thomasius.
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The First Steps of Ontology in Its Birthplace: Switzerland / Die ersten Schritte der Ontologie in ihrem Geburtsort, der Schweiz Dieser Workshop ist ein entscheidender Moment im Rahmen des Projektes «Metaphysik und Ontologie in der... more
The First Steps of Ontology in Its Birthplace: Switzerland /
Die ersten Schritte der Ontologie in ihrem Geburtsort, der Schweiz
Dieser Workshop ist ein entscheidender Moment im Rahmen des Projektes «Metaphysik und Ontologie in der Schweiz im Zeitalter der Reformation (1519–1648)». Das Projekt ist an der Universität Luzern unter der Leitung von Prof. Giovanni Ventimiglia angesiedelt und wurde vom Schweizerischen Nationalfonds ab 2016 für 3 Jahre mit 457000 CHF gefördert.
Dass der Ausdruck «Ontologie» ein Produkt der philosophischen Kultur der Moderne, nicht der Antike oder des Mittelalters ist, ist wenig bekannt. Dass das Wort (eine Zusammensetzung des Griechischen logos, «Rede», und ontos, «des Seins») in der Schweiz geprägt wurde, ist noch weniger bekannt. Zum ersten Mal erscheint es 1606 im Handbuch Ogdoas scholastica von Jacob Lorhard, Rektor des reformierten Gymnasiums in Sankt Gallen. Danach ist seine Geschichte offiziell mit Christian Wolffs Philosophia prima sive Ontologia (1730) und mit Kants Kritiken an der scholastischen Ontologie verbunden.
Am Workshop werden einige der größten internationalen Spezialisten für die Geschichte der Metaphysik/Ontologie in der Neuzeit teilnehmen. Besonderen Wert wird auf den Beitrag gelegt werden, den die Schweiz zu dieser Geschichte geleistet hat. Es werden ebenfalls einige der Ergebnisse der Forschung vorgestellt werden, die Marco Lamanna und Alice Ragni an den bedeutendsten Institutionen der betrachteten Studienfälle (Basel, Chur, Genf, Luzern, St. Gallen, Zürich) durchgeführt haben. Der Workshop wurde vom Schweizerischen Nationalfonds im Rahmen des Programms «Scientific Exchanges» gefördert.
Die ersten Schritte der Ontologie in ihrem Geburtsort, der Schweiz
Dieser Workshop ist ein entscheidender Moment im Rahmen des Projektes «Metaphysik und Ontologie in der Schweiz im Zeitalter der Reformation (1519–1648)». Das Projekt ist an der Universität Luzern unter der Leitung von Prof. Giovanni Ventimiglia angesiedelt und wurde vom Schweizerischen Nationalfonds ab 2016 für 3 Jahre mit 457000 CHF gefördert.
Dass der Ausdruck «Ontologie» ein Produkt der philosophischen Kultur der Moderne, nicht der Antike oder des Mittelalters ist, ist wenig bekannt. Dass das Wort (eine Zusammensetzung des Griechischen logos, «Rede», und ontos, «des Seins») in der Schweiz geprägt wurde, ist noch weniger bekannt. Zum ersten Mal erscheint es 1606 im Handbuch Ogdoas scholastica von Jacob Lorhard, Rektor des reformierten Gymnasiums in Sankt Gallen. Danach ist seine Geschichte offiziell mit Christian Wolffs Philosophia prima sive Ontologia (1730) und mit Kants Kritiken an der scholastischen Ontologie verbunden.
Am Workshop werden einige der größten internationalen Spezialisten für die Geschichte der Metaphysik/Ontologie in der Neuzeit teilnehmen. Besonderen Wert wird auf den Beitrag gelegt werden, den die Schweiz zu dieser Geschichte geleistet hat. Es werden ebenfalls einige der Ergebnisse der Forschung vorgestellt werden, die Marco Lamanna und Alice Ragni an den bedeutendsten Institutionen der betrachteten Studienfälle (Basel, Chur, Genf, Luzern, St. Gallen, Zürich) durchgeführt haben. Der Workshop wurde vom Schweizerischen Nationalfonds im Rahmen des Programms «Scientific Exchanges» gefördert.
Research Interests: Metaphysics, Ontology, Reformation Studies, Reformation Theology, Jesuit history, and 10 moreHistory of the Reformation, Immanuel Kant, Christian Wolff, History of Switzerland, Jesuit education, Jesuits, Reformation, Switzerland, History of Metaphysics, and Ontology, History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
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SAPIENZA UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA
DIPARTIMENTO DI FILOSOFIA
DOTTORATO DI RICERCA IN FILOSOFIA
Convegno internazionale
18-20 settembre 2019
DIPARTIMENTO DI FILOSOFIA
DOTTORATO DI RICERCA IN FILOSOFIA
Convegno internazionale
18-20 settembre 2019
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Avec les contributions de Marco Lamanna, Domenico Collacciani, Alice Ragni, Michaël Devaux, Giuliano Gasparri, Francesco V. Tommasi, et en varia un article de Vincent Boyer. Ce dossier appartient au domaine des recherches récentes sur... more
Avec les contributions de Marco Lamanna, Domenico Collacciani, Alice Ragni, Michaël Devaux, Giuliano Gasparri, Francesco V. Tommasi, et en varia un article de Vincent Boyer.
Ce dossier appartient au domaine des recherches récentes sur l’origine moderne du mot ontologia, sur son historiographie, sur les apories de la métaphysique scolastique dont l’ontologie hérite, sur son contexte initialement calviniste, sur le moments principaux de son développement et sur la thèse fondamentale qui, réduisant l’étant à un pur concept, l’identifie au pensable — jusqu’à la fascination ambivalente de Kant, qui, avant que la Critique de la raison pure n’entende substituer au nom orgueilleux d’ontologie le nom modeste d’une analytique de l’entendement pur, avait envisagé, dans les années 1770, son remplacement par une anthropologie transcendantale.
Ce dossier appartient au domaine des recherches récentes sur l’origine moderne du mot ontologia, sur son historiographie, sur les apories de la métaphysique scolastique dont l’ontologie hérite, sur son contexte initialement calviniste, sur le moments principaux de son développement et sur la thèse fondamentale qui, réduisant l’étant à un pur concept, l’identifie au pensable — jusqu’à la fascination ambivalente de Kant, qui, avant que la Critique de la raison pure n’entende substituer au nom orgueilleux d’ontologie le nom modeste d’une analytique de l’entendement pur, avait envisagé, dans les années 1770, son remplacement par une anthropologie transcendantale.
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Volume monografico della rivista Quaestio.