Pietro Pomponazzi

Timeline

1. 1511–1515Padua · VenetoPomponazzi held a philosophy chair at the University of Padua, teaching Aristotelian natural philosophy and ethics; his lectures were known for rigorous rational argument, attracting students from across Italy and building the academic reputation that preceded the later controversy over the soul.
2. 1515–1518Bologna · Emilia-RomagnaIn 1515 Pomponazzi moved to the University of Bologna as professor of philosophy, continuing to teach natural philosophy within an Aristotelian framework, where he completed and prepared for publication his most controversial work, On the Immortality of the Soul.
3. 1516–1517Bologna · Emilia-RomagnaPomponazzi published On the Immortality of the Soul (De immortalitate animae), arguing from Aristotelian reason that the individual soul cannot be immortal after the body perishes, drawing fierce condemnation from the papacy and scholastic theologians; the work was burned in Venice.
4. 1518–1520Padua · VenetoAfter the controversy over the soul, Pomponazzi returned to the University of Padua to continue teaching, ostensibly reconciling philosophical argument with faith in later works, yet his rationalist tradition profoundly influenced the development of philosophy in Italian universities.