Ventura, Gioacchino

Ventura, Gioacchino an Italian philosopher of the scholastic type, was born at Palermo, Dec. 8, 1792. He early became a member of the Order of Theatines, of which he was soon elected superior-general, and held a high position in the Church. He was a prominent supporter of the reforms inaugurated by Pius IX, and a warm champion of popular rights. But in philosophy he maintained the fundamental idea of scholasticism, placing the authority of the Church above reason, human conscience, or any other sovereignty. He died at Versailles, Aug. 3,1861. The following are his chief works: De Methodo Philosophandi (1828): — De la Vraie et de la Fausse Philosophie (1852):

— La Tradition et les Semipelagiens de la Philosophie (1854): — La Raison Philosophique et Catholique (1854): — La Philosophie Chretienne (1861). See Ueberweg, History of Philosophy, 2, 511.