Pomponazzi, Pietro (1462–1525)

Italian philosopher. He studied medicine at Padua and taught philosophy there 1488–96 (and again 1499–1509), in Ferrara 1496–99, and Bologna 1511–25. A close student of Aristotle, he became known for his then controversial view on the immortality of the soul, set out in Tractatus de immortalitate animae/On the Immortality of the Soul 1516, a view that conflicted with the widely accepted views held by the followers of Thomas Aquinas and Averroës.

Pomponazzi argued that the immortality of the soul could not be rationally demonstrated, and also that a belief in immortality (in salvation and damnation) was not essential to morality, citing the ancient Stoics as examples. His views were widely attacked and in Venice his books were publicly burned. His defence was that there was a fundamental difference between religion on the one hand and philosophy (and science) on the other – that while immortality could not be rationally demonstrated, it could be accepted as a principle of faith. His defence is set out in his Apologia 1518 and Defensorium 1519.

He also wrote De incantationibus/Enchantments, in which he argued that many so-called supernatural events have a rational explanation; and De fato/On Fate 1520, in which he argued that free will and predestination were incompatible (rationally), though the moral life was still possible.