Telesio, Bernardino

TELESIO, BERNARDINO. - Philosopher, b. at Cosenza in 1509, d. there in 1588. In 1518 he was in Milan with his uncle Antonio, from whom he learned Latin and Greek. In 1521 or 1523 he followed his uncle to the Roman Gymnasium. Shortly afterwards he moved to Padua, where he formed his philosophical culture, enrolling in the Faculty of Arts and devoting himself to physica, medicine and philosophy.

At the University, in medicine Galen dominated, in philosophy Alexandrist Aristotelianism, particularly intent on the problems of concrete sensible nature, but hampered by the apriorism of the Aristotelian tradition. In 1535 he obtained his degree; but he remained dissatisfied: « non contentus Aristotelis doctrina; ... quem et ipse... multos annos colui », on account of the philosopher's abstract aprioristic rationalism, which took no account of the senses, the primary source of knowledge (Prooemium to the De rerum natura of 1565). He then withdrew into meditation in a monastery (perhaps at the Grancia di Seminara), where he remained, it seems, from 1536 to 1544-45; he then moved to Naples (1544-52), where he elaborated his philosophy, in an environment fervid with Averroist Aristotelianism. In 1553 he married Diana Sersale, a widow with two children, who died in 1561, leaving him four more children. Inexperienced in administration, he sank into debts, from which he was never again able to free himself. From 1561 he lived between Rome, Naples and Cosenza. In 1562 he went to Brescia to discuss his philosophy with Vincenzo Maggio, a famous Aristotelian, who found nothing to object to either in the principles or in the logic of the system. He enjoyed the benevolence of the popes Clement VIII, Paul III, Paul IV, Pius IV, the last of whom offered him the archbishopric of Cosenza, which he declined in favor of his brother Tommaso. In 1565 the first two books of the De rerum natura came out in Rome, reprinted in 1570 in Naples with some formal variants. In the same year there followed there three opuscules: De his, quae in aere finut, et de terrae motibus; De colorum generatione; De mari. His philosophy was spreading: in 1573 Martelli published in Florence the translation of the two books of the De rerum natura and of two opuscules; Gregory XIII (1572-85) invited him to Rome to explain his philosophy; a similar invitation came to him from Naples; but he never held a true and proper teaching post, contenting himself with conversations. In those years, besides polemical activity and the composition of opuscules, he prepared the complete edition of the De rerum natura, published in Naples in 1686.

A good soul and a sincere believer, he saw no contrasts between his philosophy and Christianity; others saw them, and in 1593 the De rerum natura, the De Somo and the Quod animal universum ab unica animae substantia gubernatur were placed on the Index, « donec expurgentur » (today expunged).

All those who have studied nature up to now have lavished immense labors upon it with wretched results; as is proved by the sea of contradictions of investigations in conflict with one another and with reality. This is because philosophers claimed « mundi huius principia ratione inquirere; ... nos, humanae sapientiae amatores cultoresque », we shall follow « sensum... et naturam aliud praeterea nihil », always saving the absolute primacy of faith: if it contradicted it, « abnegandus omnino et ipse etiam est sensus » (Prooemium to the ed. of 1586). The sense is the first and radical source of knowledge, which consists substantially in a contact. Sensation is a conscious motion of the spirit-heat: therefore all beings feel. The sense is immediate perception of an object actually present, generated by mechanical motion. The intellect is inference, from a known aspect of what is perceived, of an aspect not actually felt, but already grasped in previous experiences: it is founded ontologically on the presupposition of the permanent continuity of beings and psychologically on sensitive memory; the intellect is therefore simple sensitive memory. Universal principles are nothing but generalizations of sensations, always in need of experimental confirmation (l. VIII). The sense shows that fire and the heavens are made of heat, which is white, illuminates, warms and causes motion; the earth is made of cold, immobile and antithetical to heat; both are sensible and sentient. The two acting natures, hot and cold, being incorporeal, they require a common substratum in which to inhere, the black passive matter. Thus we have the three universal physico-metaphysical principles of reality (ll. I, II), operating in empty space and in the flux of time. The spherical earth is placed immobile at the center of the universe; the individual spatial movements found in it are caused by the heat of the self-moving heavens, since they are constituted of heat. The immense variety of individual natural beings results from the mechanical encounter of variable quantities of heat and cold in matter, under the high guidance of Providence which coordinates everything into a marvelous finalistic order (ll. III, IV).

Living beings are finalistically operating mechanisms, composed of matter and spirit-heat: the vital principle is simply bodily heat, as is demonstrated by nutrition, by the mechanism of movement and by that of cognition, and by death. Such material heat is capable of explaining all the cognitive functions of sense and of reason: « substantiam quae sentit in homine, ratiocinari et animalia reliqua ratiocinationis non prorsus expertia esse » (VIII, 14). This does not invalidate the explicit admission of another soul proper to man: « nihil propterea negantes aliam a spiritu e semine educto... substantiam homini inesse et vere eam divinam et ab ipso infusam Deo » (VIII, 8). Certain indications prove it: man is not content with earthly things; he is always restless; he values moral goods, placing them before material goods; the disparities between merits and rewards, between faults and punishments in the present life demand the reestablishment of justice in a future life. Faith ascertains the existence of a spiritual and immortal soul (V, 2). The demonstration of God is analogous. All value is denied to the Aristotelian via motus, because movement is caused by heat: the heaven and animals move themselves, as everything that is hot moves itself (IV,

18 ff.; V, 18-19). The universal order and the finality evident in living beings prove the existence of a God who is wise, provident and creator of the universe in time. Above all « sacrosantae Ecclesiae vox audienda est »; in faith « pio homini acquiescendum omnino est » (IV, 19; I, 10; IX, 7). A moderate motion caused by heat preserves and strengthens man, giving him joy; an excessive motion tends to destroy him, bringing him pain. Joy is the good, pain is the evil: thus morality is born, whose ultimate end is the self-preservation of the being: everything that favors it is good, everything that opposes it is evil. This natural morality can be coordinated with the Christian one, which promises an eternal preservation and joy (I. IX).

Telesianism immediately had determined opponents (J. A. Marta, F. Patrizi, etc.) and enthusiastic followers (F. Martelli, S. Quattromani, A. Persio, T. Campanella, G. Bruno, F. Bacon and the empiricists). It concludes the Aristotelianism of the Renaissance and begins modern empiricism. T. is a philosopher who struggles between the rational demand of metaphysics and the fascination of empirical science, in the vain illusion of gathering both into a single body of knowledge with his physico-metaphysical principles. To save a convinced adherence to the traditional beliefs in God and in the spiritual soul, an irrational fideism comes to the rescue, one that will found a school.

Giacomo Soleri