Tommaso Campanella in the Schulmetaphysik: The Doctrine of the Three Primalities and the Case of the Lutheran Liborius Capsius (1589–1654) in Erfurt

By Marco Lamanna

Following some recent findings, this essay presents the first known case of the reception of the doctrine of the primalities (power, knowledge, and love) by the Italian Tommaso Campanella within German scholastic philosophy, the so-called…

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Following some recent findings, this essay presents the first known case of the reception of the doctrine of the primalities (power, knowledge, and love) by the Italian Tommaso Campanella within German scholastic philosophy, the so-called Schulmetaphysik. Here, the focus is on the Lutheran Liborius Capsius, the first docent of metaphysics at the University of Erfurt after the interdict by Martin Luther against metaphysics. Through his lectures and the disputations discussed by his students, Capsius shows how the Reformed scholastic philosophy was finally able to receive and integrate Renaissance philosophies (also those of anti-scholastic and anti-Aristotelian provenience). The essay is followed by the transcription of the Rerum transcendentium stud.< ium > (1635) by Capsius, in which the reception of the doctrine of the primalities takes place. Suite à des découvertes récentes, cet article présente le premier cas connu de la réception de la doctrine des principes premiers (puissance, connaissance et amour) de l’italien Tommaso Campanella par la philosophie scolastique allemande, ou Schulmetaphysik. On y examine principalement un ouvrage du luthérien Liborius Capsius, premier professeur de métaphysique à l’Université d’Erfurt après que Martin Luther ait interdit la métaphysique. Dans son enseignement et dans les disputations menéees par ses étudiants, Capsius montre que la philosophie scolastique de la Réforme a réussi à accueillir et intégrer les philosophies de la Renaissance, y compris celles de traditions anti-scolastiques et antiaristotéliciennes. Cet article inclut la transcription du Rerum transcendentium stud.< ium > (1635) de Capsius, constituant le témoin principal de la réception de la doctrine des principes premiers.

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  • Lamanna, M., (2025), "Tommaso Campanella in the Schulmetaphysik: The Doctrine of the Three Primalities and the Case of the Lutheran Liborius Capsius (1589–1654) in Erfurt", HSSCommons: (DOI: )

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Original publication: Lamanna, Marco. "Tommaso Campanella in the Schulmetaphysik: The Doctrine of the Three Primalities and the Case of the Lutheran Liborius Capsius (1589–1654) in Erfurt." Renaissance and Reformation 39 (1): 2016. 91-114. DOI: 10.33137/rr.v39i1.26544. This material has been re-published in an unmodified form on the Canadian HSS Commons with the permission of Iter Canada / Renaissance and Reformation. Copyright © the author(s). Their work is distributed by Renaissance and Reformation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For details, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.

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