FONSECA Pedro [FONSEKA PIOTR] - Commentariorum Petri Fonsecae (...) In Metaphysicorum Aristotelis Stagiritae vol III-IV 1604

Co-bound volumes III and IV:

1. Commentariorum Petri Fonsecae Lusitani, Doctoris Theologi Societatis Iesv, In Metaphysicorum Aristotelis Stagiritae Libros tomus tertivs Continet Hic Tomvs VI. VII. VIII. Et IX. lib. Explicationem. Nunc a mendis qvamplurimis, quae praecedentibvs editionib. irrepferant, fummo labore purgatus, & in germania elegantioribus typis, in gratiam study philosophici, quig, omnium iam votis diu defideratus eft, editus. Accesserunt indices capitvm, rerum et materiarum multò quam antehac locupletiores.

2. Commentariorum Petri Fonsecae Lusitani, Doctoris Theologi Societatis Iesv, In Metaphysicorum Aristotelis stagiritae decimum, vndecimum & duodecimum: cum fequentium duorum interpretatione tomus IV editio recens nata, et a mendis repurgarta, cum necessario praecipuarum materiarium indice

Pedro da Fonseca SJ (Latin: Petrus Fonsecae; Polish: Piotr Fonseka) (1528-1599) - Portuguese Jesuit, philosopher and theologian. His philosophical works earned him the nickname "Portuguese Aristotle."

Volume III and IV of his commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics

Fonseka's work grew out of the teaching needs of Jesuit schools. Indeed, it was felt that there was a serious lack of a comprehensive course in philosophy to facilitate the work of professors and students. The use of Aristotle's original texts was impossible due to the small number of pieces and insufficient knowledge of Greek among both students and professors. The title "Commentariorum..." indicates that the work belongs to the widespread method of lecturing philosophy in the form of a commentary. These are commentaries written on individual books of Aristotle's Metaphysics and published in four volumes. Volume one consists of commentaries on the first four books of the Metaphysics, volume two contains a commentary on book V, volume three on books VI-IX, and volume four refers to the remaining books of the Metaphysics, namely books X-XIV. Volume one was published in Rome in 1577, the others in the following years: volume two - Rome 1589, volume three simultaneously in Evora and Cologne - 1604; volume four - Lion 1612. Two ways of doing philosophy are clearly intertwined in the Commentariorum. Accordingly, one can speak of its two parts. The first part consists of Fonseka's established critical Greek text of Aristotle's Metaphysics in his own translation of it into Latin Each passage of the Greek and Latin texts is followed by an ad littera commentary. Here, Fonseka considers various issues and resolves reading difficulties and establishes the correct meaning of Aristotle's vocabulary. In doing so, he reveals an extraordinary knowledge of Aristotle's views not only in the Metaphysics, but also in his other writings. The second part of Fonseka's Commentariorum are the so-called Quaestiones, which follow each chapter of the Metaphysics book under comment. These are philosophical problems, sometimes theological, that were suggested by reading Aristotle, or that were vigorously debated at the time. As the fourth volume was published on the basis of the author's notes 13 years after his death, it is not a finished work. It lacks a commentary in the form of quaestiones. This volume, in the section dealing with books X-XII, as in the previous ones, contains the Greek text of Aristotle's Metaphysics , a Latin translation and a commentary in the form of ad litteram, while the section dealing with books XIII and XIV has only the Greek and Latin text of the Metaphysics already without an ad litteram commentary. (after Kazimierz Gryzenia,"Didactic Values of the Old and New Metaphysics")

Year of publication: Coloniae 1604, impensis Lazari Zetzneri Bibliopolae; Lugduni 1612, sumptibus Horatij Cardon

s. [12], 670, [10]; [8], 255.

Format: 25 x 18 cm

Binding: period, parchment, blind-stamped, plaquette, geometric-floral ornamentation/ in the mirror face an effigy of Maximilian II Habsburg "Emperor of Rome, King of Germany and Hungary, Archduke of Austria".

Condition: complete and consistent, edges of about 20 pages heavily frayed/crumbed [no harm to text], small holes in pages in places [trace of insect activity, no harm to text legibility], soiled [trace of overburning] page blocks, dry trace of former flooding [paper discoloration, no harm to text] on cover and edges of some pages, no signatures or underlining in text, early signatures on title page and cover [pen], losses of covers, cover taped, with delamination on edges

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