Natura di Anima e Numero nella letteratura aritmologica italiana del secondo Rinascimento (1500-1630)

The dissertation aims to survey the ontological and cognitive relationships between soul and number in the framework of late Renaissance thought, during XVI and XVII Centuries, the crucial age of development and progressive affirmation of modern science. Mainly receiving the doctrines of Neoplatonic philosophers, especially Porphyry, Iamblichus and Proclus, during the Renaissance emerges a current of thought that combines metaphysical investigation on the soul and theories about numerical, geometrical and harmonic proportions. After a general introduction and a presentation of the status quaestionis, the study explores the main works dealing with the theme, from Cristoforo Marcello’s De anima traditionis Opus (1508) to the De Harmonia mundi of Francesco Zorzi (1525) and the Hebdomades of Fabio Paolini (1589), focusing particularly on numerical symbolism. Finally, the last chapter examines the faculties of the soul in treatises and collections concerning mathematical correspondences and analogies.