SANSEVERINO, GAETANO

Neoscholastic philosopher; b. Naples, Aug. 7, 1811;d. Naples, Nov. 16, 1865. After ordination for the archdiocese of Naples in 1834, he studied at the University of Naples and was appointed to the Royal Library. In 1840 he founded the series Biblioteca Cattolica, intended to include all major Catholic works, and the periodical Scienzae Fede, in which he published many important articles. From 1846 until his death he taught philosophy in the diocesan Liceo in Naples; in 1846 he also founded an academy of Thomistic philosophy that became in 1874 the Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas. Having made the transition from cartesianism to thomism, he became a zealous promoter of Thomistic thought as the only sound means of solving current problems. Through his efforts the Neapolitan school became one of the principal centers of the Thomistic revival, promoted by such disciples as N. Signorello, G. Prisco, and S. Talamo. Among his major works are Institutiones logicae (Naples 1854) and Philosophia Christiana cum antiqua et nova comparata, planned for 15 volumes, of which the first five were published by him (Naples 1862), volumes 6 and 7 being published posthumously (Naples 1866, 1878) by Signorello, who also compiled a widely used summary, Elementa philosophiae Christianae (3 v. Naples 1864, 1865, 1870).

See Also: scholasticism.

Bibliography: a. masnovo, Il neo-tomismo in Italia (Milan 1923). p. naddeo, Le origini del neo-tomismoe la scuola napoletana di G. Sanseverino (Salerno 1940). p. dezza, Alle origini del neo-tomismo (Milan 1940). d. lanna, "La scuola tomistica di Napoli," Rivista di filosofia neoscolastica 17 (1925) 385–395.

[r. m. pizzorni]