DOI: 10.4324/9780415249126-C053-1
Version: v1, Published online: 2002
Retrieved April 26, 2024, from https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/biographical/vanini-giulio-cesare-1585-1619/v-1
Version: v1, Published online: 2002
Retrieved April 26, 2024, from https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/biographical/vanini-giulio-cesare-1585-1619/v-1
Article Summary
Although he wrote little, Giulio Cesare Vanini occupies a secure place in European intellectual history. His philosophical atheism connects the developments in late Italian Renaissance thought with the audacious libertins érudits of seventeenth-century France. He is identified with the Aristotelian naturalism of Padua and disseminated the Machiavellian view of religion as a political tool. Conflicts with ecclesiastical authorities in Italy, England and France forced him to travel widely. He fled Paris when the condemnation of his second book was imminent, briefly finding refuge in Toulouse under a false name. In 1619, unaware of his true identity, the Parlement there executed him for atheism, blasphemy and impiety.
Citing this article:
Shelford, April G.. Vanini, Giulio Cesare (1585–1619), 2002, doi:10.4324/9780415249126-C053-1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/biographical/vanini-giulio-cesare-1585-1619/v-1.
Copyright © 1998-2024 Routledge.
Shelford, April G.. Vanini, Giulio Cesare (1585–1619), 2002, doi:10.4324/9780415249126-C053-1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/biographical/vanini-giulio-cesare-1585-1619/v-1.
Copyright © 1998-2024 Routledge.