Socrates, or on Human Knowledge: Bilingual Edition

Simone Luzzatto

Open Access Published by De Gruyter 2019

Socrates, or on Human Knowledge

Bilingual Edition

Simone Luzzatto
Edited by: Giuseppe Veltri and Michela Torbidoni
Funded by: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Volume 8 in the series Studies and Texts in Scepticism

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110557602

Overview
Contents

About this book

Open Access

Socrates, Or On Human Knowledge, published in Venice in 1651, is the only work written by a Jew that contains so far the promise of a genuinely sceptical investigation into the validity of human certainties. Simone Luzzatto masterly developed this book as a pièce of theatre where Socrates, as main actor, has the task to demonstrate the limits and weaknesses of the human capacity to acquire knowledge without being guided by revelation. He achieved this goal by offering an overview of the various and contradictory gnosiological opinions disseminated since ancient times: the divergence of views, to which he addressed the most attention, prevented him from giving a fixed definition of the nature of the cognitive process. This obliged him to come to the audacious conclusion of neither affirming nor denying anything concerning human knowledge, and finally of suspending his judgement altogether.
This work unfortunately had little success in Luzzatto’s lifetime, and was subsequently almost forgotten. The absence of substantial evidence from his contemporaries and that of his epistolary have thus increased the difficulty of tracing not only its legacy in the history of philosophical though, but also of understanding the circumstances surrounding the writing of his Socrates.
The present edition will be a preliminary study aiming to shed some light on the philosophical and historical value of this work’s translation, indeed it will provide a broader readership with the opportunity to access this immensely complicated work and also to grasp some aspects of the composite intellectual framework and admirable modernity of Venetian Jewish culture in the ghetto.

Author / Editor information

Giuseppe Veltri and Michela Torbidoni, Hamburg University, Germany.

Topics

Frontmatter Open Access Download PDF	I
Contents Open Access Download PDF	V
Preface Open Access Download PDF	VII
Introduction The Book and Its Legacy Giuseppe Veltri and Michela Torbidoni Open Access Download PDF	1
Synopsis of Socrates, Or On Human Knowledge Open Access Download PDF	15
Chronology Open Access Download PDF	19
Note on the Text Open Access Download PDF	21
Socrates, Or On Human Knowledge
Serenissimo prencipe et eccellentissimo collegio Open Access Download PDF	26
Al benigno lettore Open Access Download PDF	28
Argomento Open Access Download PDF	30
Accusa contra socrate everssore dell’humane dottrine Open Access Download PDF	40
Discolpa di socrate Open Access Download PDF	44
Si propone ciò che si deve deliberare circa socrate Open Access Download PDF	482
The Deceit of the Senses: Sight and the Mirror Giuseppe Veltri Open Access Download PDF	520
What Does Philosopher à l’antique Mean to Simone Luzzatto? Michela Torbidoni Open Access Download PDF	530
Bibliography Open Access Download PDF	542
Index of Names and Places Open Access Download PDF	562
Index of Sources Open Access Download PDF	565
Index of Major Topics Open Access Download PDF	570

(Deutsch)

Languages: English, Italian
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Judaism / Jewish Studies, Early Modern Philosophy.
Pages
- Front matter: 8
- Main content: 571
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 1
Keywords: Simone Luzzatto; Socrates; Jewish Scepticism.

eBook

Published: August 19, 2019
ISBN: 9783110557602

Hardcover

Published: August 19, 2019
ISBN: 9783110557534