POMPONAZZI, Pietro. Opera. De naturalium effectuum admirandorum causis, seu de incantationibus liber. Item de Fato: Liberio arbitrio; Praedestinatione; Providentia Dei, Libri V.
Basileae, Ex officina Henricpetrina, 1567
Small 8vo. Contemporary ivory vellum. Pages [64, including 4 blank leaves], 1015, [1, with Printer’s device]. The publication date is taken from the Colophon, on p. 1015: “M. D. LXVII. Mense Martio”. Printer's device on the final page. Woodcut initials, Italic and Roman type. Paper defect on the outer margin of the title page, some slight marginal browning, fine copy.
A rare edition, with the First appearance of Pomponazzi's essay ‘On Fate, Free Will and Predestination' ('De Fato... Libri V'). In ‘De Fato’, free will, and predestination' Pomponazzi presents a double investigation of religious and philosophical determinism, examining each of these traditions in relation to free will. It is a heroic attempt to reconcile God's omniscience and omnipotence with free will'. It is a heroic attempt to reconcile God's omniscience and omnipotence with free will. The volume opens with "De naturalium effectuum admirandorum causis, seu de Incantationibus," a treatise on miracles, understood as the effects of a natural cause that is not yet known but will be explained in the future. Caillet: “… a singular work … it contains in its germ suggestive medicine, which is well explained with the Nancy School (hypnotism, for example).”
Pomponazzi's secular explanations of phenomena previously considered miraculous had a wide influence, as did his proofs against the existence of demons, while affirming his Catholic belief in them.
Pietro Pomponazzi, 1462-1525, a professor at Padua, Ferrara, and Bologna, was blacklisted by the Council of Trent for questioning Aristotle's belief in the immortality of the soul.
Adams P1826; Graesse p 400; Wellcome I, 5154; Caillet 8818, 8819.