Sepúlveda, Juan Ginés de

Abstract

Though mainly known today for his polemical writings against Bartolomé de las Casas in defense of the Spanish conquest of America and for his views on natural slavery, Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda was one of the most distinguished representatives of sixteenth-century Spanish humanism, ranking alongside Juan Luis Vives and Antonio Agustín. Not only did he write a vast quantity of works on history, law, politics, and chronology; he also produced important Latin translations of Aristotle and Aristotle’s third-century AD Greek commentator, Alexander of Aphrodisias. As a translator of, and commentator on, both philosophers, Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda is a notable example of the intellectual richness and depth of Renaissance Aristotelianism. Although a student of the scholastic Pietro Pomponazzi, Sepúlveda learned to be sensitive to the humanistic concern for Aristotle promoted by Alberto Pio and put into practice by many scholars in this period. Unlike his teacher, Sepúlveda had an excellent command of Greek and was well acquainted with the techniques of the humanists. In his role as a commentator on, and translator of, Greek philosophical writings, we see exemplified many of the key features which characterized fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Aristotelianism at its best.