Thomistic Logic in Renaissance Italy: Girolamo Savonarola, Paolo Barbò, Crisostomo Javelli

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the formation of a ‘Thomist logic’ in Renaissance Italy. After having expounded the principles that should inspire any logic ad mentem Divi Thomae, the article focuses on three textbooks of ‘Thomist logic’: Girolamo Savonarola’s Compendium Logicae, Paolo Barbò’s Expositio in Artem veterem, and Crisostomo Javelli’s Compendium Logicae. I show that these textbooks display common features, such as the presentation of logic according to the order of the books traditionally included in the Organon.Savonarola maintained that propositions can only be in the present tense and cannot generate insolubilia. Barbò’s contributions to philosophy of logic are conspicuous and include an original discussion of the subiectum of logic and of the doctrine expounded in the Categories. Under the possible influence of Renaissance humanism, Javelli’s textbook includes a history of logic and historical and philological analyses.