The Critical Reception of Cartesian Physiology in Tommaso Cornelio’s Progymnasmata physica

This article highlights certain key moments in the dissemination of Cartesianism in Naples in the 17th century. It focuses, in particular, on the "Progymnasmata physica" (1663), written by Tommaso Cornelio (1614–1684), who derived a great deal of his conceptions of physics and physiology from Descartes. Although precise references to Descartes’ texts are thin on the ground, the author hypothesizes that Cornelio was familiar with "L’Homme", probably also on the basis of the fifth part of the "Discours de la méthode", in which, as is well known, there is a summary and a completion of the treatise that Descartes declined to publish. Finally, the article stresses the critical aspects of Cornelio’s reception of Cartesianism and the fact that he introduces the novelty of Cartesian teachings and positions to a wider context.