Silvestri, Francesco (1474–1528)

A Thomist philosopher and theologian, Silvestri composed, along with Aristotelian commentaries and polemical works, a vast commentary on Aquinas’ Summa Contra Gentiles which, from the first, has been recognized as its classic exposition. Silvestri imitated the method (expositio formalis) of Cajetan’s commentary on Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae, but disagreed with Cajetan on key points of Thomistic doctrine and proposed interpretations generally closer to the letter of Aquinas. Chief among these are the doctrines of analogy, abstraction and the rational demonstrability of the soul’s immortality.