Abstract

In this paper, I intend to explore the 16th century Italian work entitled Divisione della filosofia (1895) by the writer Benedetto Varchi, by reflecting on concepts raised and discussed throughout the history of philosophy, such as art and science, while making a thorough analysis of the text and the conceptions exposed by the historian. From a historical-philosophical point of view, I intend to investigate a varchian corpus from the Renaissance period, thus, I examine the statements and inferences of the Florentine writer, in order to make explicit his vision concerning the division and hierarchization of the areas of theoretical and practical knowledge of Philosophy. I then conclude how the classification that summarizes more than two thousand years of notions coming from Greek, medieval and renaissance philosophies could help in the formulation of the functions of knowledge and how they relate to the practical life of individuals in the Renaissance period.