Especially after Julius Caesar Scaliger ruled out that De plantis (Περὶ φυτῶν) had been written by Aristotle, the fate of the treatise during the Renaissance and early modern period was sealed, as shown by Karen Reeds (1991, 19). Scholars owned and read the text. They looked at it – in particular, the section dealing with the notion of vegetative soul – as a genuine document of orthodox Aristotelianism. However, botanists were little interested in repeating or elaborating its contents. In many cases, they simply did not refer to it. Indeed, while providing a compelling philosophical Aristotelian interpretation of plants, De plantis was of little use to naturalists working on the various characteristics and functions of vegetal bodies.
Baldassarri, F. (2020). Early Modern Philosophy of Plants and the Unwelcome Guest: Pseudo-Aristotle’s De plantis. In Guigo Giglioni Maria Fernanda Ferrini (a cura di), Περὶ φυτῶν. Trattati greci di botanica in Occidente e in Oriente (pp. 237-264). Macerata : Eum.
Early Modern Philosophy of Plants and the Unwelcome Guest: Pseudo-Aristotle’s De plantis
baldassarri
2020-01-01
Abstract
Especially after Julius Caesar Scaliger ruled out that De plantis (Περὶ φυτῶν) had been written by Aristotle, the fate of the treatise during the Renaissance and early modern period was sealed, as shown by Karen Reeds (1991, 19). Scholars owned and read the text. They looked at it – in particular, the section dealing with the notion of vegetative soul – as a genuine document of orthodox Aristotelianism. However, botanists were little interested in repeating or elaborating its contents. In many cases, they simply did not refer to it. Indeed, while providing a compelling philosophical Aristotelian interpretation of plants, De plantis was of little use to naturalists working on the various characteristics and functions of vegetal bodies.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
