The ArgumentThe purpose of this article is twofold. Firstly, I propose to analyze controversies using a “dialectical” model, in the sense described in Aristotle'sTopics. This approach presupposes that we temporarily disregard, for the sake of clarity, the concreteness of real life controversies in order to focus on their argumentative structure. From this point of view, the main advantage of controversies is that they allow the interlocutorsto testeach other's claims and therefore to arrive at relatively corroborated conclusions. This testing function in (...) a dialectical context is implemented through theassentto commonly accepted premises, and thenecessitywhich characterizes each step of the reasoning.Secondly, I shall apply this dialectical framework to the study of the controversy concerning the motion of the Earth, or rather a small episode of it. I shall examine an exchange of letters, written in 1616 and in 1624 respectively, between Galileo Galilei and Francesco Ingoli, one of his Aristotelian opponents. I shall then compare this exchange with the first day of Galileo'sDialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World, a fictional debate, where Galileo discusses some of the same arguments. While the first exemplifies what I call “negative” testing, and yields a refutation of the opponent's theses, the second exemplifies “positive” testing and yields a dialectical demonstration of the motion of the Earth. (shrink)

The humanist Giovanni Giovano Pontano wrote five dialogues, although only two of them were published during his lifetime. The last one, entitled Aegidius in honor of Giles of Viterbo, represents a conversation held in the context of the “Accademia Pontaniana” between a series of speakers who discuss the role of eloquence, the importance of combining sacred letters with profane ones, astrology, the immortality of the soul and the Aristotelian philosophical lexicon. We present an introduction to the main topics of this (...) dialogue which accompany the Spanish translation of the Aegidiusincluded in this issue. (shrink)

En este trabajo, procuramos analizar la cuestión de la vita activa y la vita contemplativa en la obra de Poggio Bracciolini, concentrándonos para ello, principalmente, en su diálogo Sobre la infelicidad de los príncipes. Nuestra hipótesis es que, en este texto, se contraponen, sin llegar a una tesis final, dos concepciones distintas de la felicidad. Por otra parte, esta ciceroniana y académica falta de una respuesta definitiva deja abierto, en el diálogo, un cuestionamiento general sobre el ser humano y su (...) cultura en aquellos años del Quattrocento italiano. In this article we attempt to consider the subject of vita activa and vita contemplativa in the work of Poggio Bracciolini, concentrating therefore mainly in his dialogue De infelicitate principum. Our hypothesis is that, in this text, there's a confrontation, without reaching a final thesis, between two different concepts of happiness. On the other hand, this academic and Ciceronian lack of a definitive response leaves open, in the dialogue, a general questioning about the human being and his culture in those years of the Italian Quattrocento. (shrink)