Vitello
Vitello (Polish: Witelon; German: Witelo; c. 1230 – 1280/1314) was
a Polish friar, theologian, natural philosopher and an important
figure in the history of philosophy in Poland.
Name
Vitello's name varies with some sources. In earlier publications he
was quoted as Erazmus Ciolek Witelo, Erazm Ciołek, Vitellio and
Vitulon. Today, he is usually referred to by his Latin name Vitello
Thuringopolonis, often shortened to Vitello.
Life
Vitello's exact birth-name and birthplace are uncertain. He was Cover of Vitellonis Thuringopoloni
most likely born around 1230 in Silesia, in the vicinity of opticae libri decem (Ten Books of
[1]
Legnica. His mother came from a Polish knightly house, while Optics by the Thuringo-Pole
Witelo)
his father was a German settler from Thuringia. He called himself,
in Latin, "Thuringorum et Polonorum filius" — "a son of
Thuringians and Poles." He studied at Padua University about 1260, then went on to Viterbo. He became
friends with William of Moerbeke, the translator of Aristotle from Greek language into Latin. Vitello's
major surviving work on optics, Perspectiva, completed in about 1270–78,[2] was dedicated to William.
In 1284 he described the reflection and refraction of light.[3]
Perspectiva
Vitello's Perspectiva was largely based on the work of the
polymath Alhazen (Ibn al-Haytham; d. ca. 1041) and Robert
Grosseteste, and he in turn influenced later scientists, in particular
Johannes Kepler. Vitello's treatise in optics was closely linked to
the Latin version of Ibn al-Haytham's Arabic opus: Kitab al-
Manazir (The Book of Optics; De aspectibus or Perspectivae),
and both were printed in the Friedrich Risner edition Opticae
thesaurus (Basel, 1572).[4] Page from a manuscript of De
Perspectiva, with miniature of its
Vitello's Perspectiva, which rested on Ibn al-Haytham's research author Vitello.
in optics, influenced also the Renaissance theories of perspective.
Lorenzo Ghiberti's Commentario terzo (Third Commentary) was
based on an Italian translation of Vitello's Latin Perspectiva.[5]
Vitello's treatise also contains much material in psychology, outlining views that are close to modern
notions on the association of ideas and on the subconscious.
Perspectiva also includes Platonic metaphysical discussions. Vitello argues that there are intellectual and
corporeal bodies, connected by causality (corresponding to the Idealist doctrine of the universal and the
actual), emanating from God in the form of Divine Light. Light itself is, for Vitello, the first of all
sensible entities, and his views on light are similar to those held by Roger Bacon, though he is closer in
this to Alhazen's legacy.[6]
Other works
In Perspectiva, Vitello refers to other works that he had written. Most of these do not survive, but De
natura daemonum and De primaria causa paenitentiae have been recovered.
Legacy
The lunar crater Vitello is named after him.
See also
History of philosophy in Poland
List of Poles
List of Catholic clergy scientists
Notes
1. Haisig, Marian (1977). Legnica, monografia historyczna miasta (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=catFAAAAIAAJ&q=witelon%20legnica) (in Polish). Poland: Ossoliński. p. 77.
2. CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever Published
by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London. (http://www.columbia.edu/dlc/garland/de
weever/UV/vitulon.htm)
3. Joe Rosen; Lisa Quinn Gothard. Encyclopedia of Physical Science (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=avyQ64LIJa0C). Infobase Publishing; 2009. ISBN 978-0-8160-7011-4. p. 691.
4. Nader El-Bizri, "A Philosophical Perspective on Alhazen's Optics", Arabic Sciences and
Philosophy, Vol. 15, Issue 2 (2005), pp. 189-218 (Cambridge University Press)
5. Graziela F. Vescovini, "Contributo per la storia della fortuna di Alhazen in Italia: II
volgarizzamento del MS. Vat. 4595 e il Commentario terzo del Ghiberti, Rinascimento, V
(1965), pp. 1749 -- Also (Ibid, El-Bizri, 2005)
6. Ibid, El-Bizri, 2005
References
Vitello and his thoughts
Witelonis Perspectivae Liber Primus: Book I of Vitello's Perspectiva, edition and English
translation by Sabetai Unguru, with introduction and commentary, Warsaw, The Polish
Academy of Science Press, Studia Copernicana, vol. XV, 1977.
Witelonis Perspectivae Libri Duo - Liber Secundus et Liber Tertius: Books II and III of
Vitello's Perspectiva, edition and English translation by Sabetai Unguru, with introduction
and commentary, Warsaw, The Polish Academy of Science Press, Studia Copernicana, vol.
XXVII, 1991.
Witelonis Perspectivae Liber Quartus: Book IV of Vitello's Perspectiva, A Critical Edition and
English Translation with Introduction, Notes and Commentary by Carl J. Kelso, University of
Missouri-Columbia, 2003.
Witelonis Perspectivae Liber Quintus: Books V of Vitello's Perspectiva, edition and English
translation by Mark A. Smith of the First Catoptrical Book of Witelo's Perspectiva, with
introduction and commentary, Warsaw, The Polish Academy of Science Press, 1983.
Studies
Clemens Baeumker, "Witelo: Ein Philosoph und Naturforscher des dreizehnten
Jahrhunderts," Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters, part 3, no. 2,
Münster, Aschendorff, 1908.
Władysław Tatarkiewicz, Historia filozofii (History of Philosophy), 3 vols., Warsaw,
Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1978.
Jerzy Burchardt, "The Discovery of the Rainbow in Crystal by Witelo" (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20060717025014/http://www.ihnpan.waw.pl/redakcje/organon/33/BURCHARDT.pdf)
External links
Online Galleries, History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20120215021357/http://hos.ou.edu/galleries/03Medieval/Witelo/) High
resolution images of works by and/or portraits of Witelo in .jpg and .tiff format.
Erasmus Ciołek Witelo monument in the Żórawina village, Wrocław County, Lower Silesian
Voivodeship, SW Poland. [1] (http://wrotaregionu.pl/en/118-wrota-regionu-monument-of-wite
o)
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