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The evaluation of Aristotle's natural philosophy in Petrić's Discussiones peripateticae

As long as a decade, or at least so, Petrić spent devoted to the study of Aristotelian thought, and, simultaneously, entire heritage of classical Greek natural philosophy, writing his Discussiones peripateticae. What were the results of his laborious research? Firstly, in Discussiones peripateticae Petrić established certain starting-points of his natural philosophy he remained faithful to, an attitude rightly expected from a true Platonist. For instance, he explicitly argued against potential infinity in mathematics and physics. He described generation by means of succession, unlike the Aristotelians who turned to continuity. Searching for concurrence in the ancient Greek natural philosophy from Thales to Aristotle, Petrić conceived the basic structure of every natural philosophy, including his own. Although a Platonist, he also examined the problem of alteration in nature, proving thus that this topic was not reserved for the Aristotelians only. He rejected Aristotle’s argument that circular motion deserves a privileged position among all motion. Moreover, he ironized Aristotle’s entire doctrine on the existence of natural places of elements, and the natural tendency of elements to these places. The laws of mechanics were, therefore, to be sought outside the Arsitotelian picture of the world. He named some problems great. One of them he inquired as early as in 1581: how do we see what we see? This question did not lead him to gnoseological investigation, but a discussion de visu and de visione, preparing himself for the topic of light in his ťnew philosophyŤ, the topic which this Renaissance philosopher received greatest credit for. He objected to Aristotle for having invented the spherical fire as the fifth, intangible, and invisible element. It is here that Petrić’s view expresses his genuine attitude towards observation, sense, and experiment. In his work Discussiones peripateticae Frane Petrić outlined, for the first time, the basis of his very own natural philosophy. It was perfectly clear from the very start that natural philosophy would occupy the most outstanding place in Petrić’s philosophical system, as, according to Petrić, it already did in that of Aristotle.

Frane Petrić; Aristotle; natural philosophy; potential infinity; continuity; alteration; circular motion; natural place; elements; Marko Antun de Dominis

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