ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines Marsilio Ficino's theory of physiologically induced contraction as a means of noetic ascent, and discusses Frances Yates and Ingegno's interpretation. The term 'contraction' occurs in a physiological sense in classical Latin. In classical Latin a psychological meaning of contraction occurs, e.g. contractio animi, designating dejection or depression. Some Bruno scholars, notably Ingegno, equate Ficino's physiological interpretation of contraction with contraction in the strictly noetic sense in Bruno's philosophy, i.e. the idea that the philosopher can ascend through the ontological hierarchy to the purely intelligible realm. In Ficino's interpretation of it, the humour melancholy and the contraction of spiritus that it induced became a central theme in his conception of noetic ascent. The humour melancholy was of particular interest to Ficino, since it was essential to intellectual work. According to the pseudo-Aristotelian Problemata "all those who have excelled in whatever faculty, have been melancholics".
