Paolo Ricci on the Notion of Material Intellect: Between Averroism and Kabbalah

This article examines Paolo Ricci’s joint employment of Averroistic and kabbalistic sources. Particular attention is paid to the interpretation that Ricci inserts in his writings of the agent and material intellects and to the circulation of Siger of Brabant’s doctrines in the academic context of Renaissance Pavia. It argues that Ricci’s In Apostolorum simbolum dialogus reveals the role of Kabbalah in the author’s involvement with contemporaneous Renaissance debates on the soul. The reference to Ricci’s name before his conversion to Christianity included in the first edition of this treatise can relate to the information that Caspar Amman provides in a note on his personal copy of Ricci’s treatise.