Vitello (Polish:Witelon;German:Witelo;c. 1230 – 1280/1314) was a Polishfriar,theologian,natural philosopher and an important figure in thehistory of philosophy in Poland.
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 nameVitello Thuringopolonis, often shortened to Vitello.
Vitello's exact birth-name and birthplace are uncertain. He was most likely born around 1230 inSilesia, in the vicinity ofLegnica.[1] His mother came from a Polish knightly house, while his father was aGerman settler fromThuringia. He called himself, inLatin, "Thuringorum et Polonorum filius" — "a son ofThuringians andPoles." He studied atPadua University about 1260, then went on toViterbo. He became friends withWilliam of Moerbeke, the translator ofAristotle from Greek language into Latin. Vitello's major surviving work onoptics,Perspectiva, completed in about 1270–78,[2] was dedicated to William. In 1284 he described thereflection andrefraction of light.[3]
Vitello'sPerspectiva was largely based on the work of thepolymathAlhazen (Ibn al-Haytham; d. ca. 1041) andRobert Grosseteste, and he in turn influenced later scientists, in particularJohannes 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 orPerspectivae), and both were printed in theFriedrich Risner editionOpticae thesaurus (Basel, 1572).[4]
Vitello'sPerspectiva, which rested on Ibn al-Haytham's research in optics, influenced also the Renaissance theories of perspective.Lorenzo Ghiberti'sCommentario terzo (Third Commentary) was based on an Italian translation of Vitello's LatinPerspectiva.[5]
Vitello's treatise also contains much material inpsychology, outlining views that are close to modern notions on theassociation of ideas and on thesubconscious.
Perspectiva also includesPlatonicmetaphysical discussions. Vitello argues that there are intellectual and corporeal bodies, connected by causality (corresponding to theIdealist doctrine of the universal and the actual), emanating fromGod 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 byRoger Bacon, though he is closer in this toAlhazen's legacy.[6]
InPerspectiva, Vitello refers to other works that he had written. Most of these do not survive, butDe natura daemonum andDe primaria causa paenitentiae have been recovered.
Thelunar craterVitello is named after him.
Vitello and his thoughts
Studies
