Heavenly Negotiations in Ficino’s "De vita coelitus comparanda" and their place in Campanella’s "Metaphysica"

In his Metaphysica, published in Paris in 1638, Campanella devoted special attention to Marsilio Ficino’s claim that, relying on special allurements (allectiones and illices) of various kinds, human beings were able to gain life from heaven (comparatio vitae coelitus). More than a century after the publication of Ficino’s De vita libri tres (1489), Campanella thought that the question needed to be re-addressed in the light of new metaphysical, theological and medical developments. With respect to Ficino’s account, Campanella’s reappraisal of celestial comparatio vitae stressed two decisive points: the primacy of moral intentionality over physical materiality and a stronger theological framing of the whole question.