 An additional impediment in interpreting Pomponazzi stems from his arguments that he characterized as in naturalibus (based on nature). Similarly, he at times described himself as following the via peripatetica (the Peripatetic path), which meant investigating according to Aristotelian principles without influence from other fields, most prominently theology. Restricting arguments to those that are in naturalibus or following the via peripatetica required determining Aristotle’s view, regardless of its truth. Pomponazzi justified this approach on the grounds that natural philosophy possesses different principles than theology and therefore those fields should not use the principles of other fields. Consequently, at times he maintained that as a lay person he was unable to pronounce on theological questions. Furthermore, his duties as professor of philosophy, as in essence a professional Aristotelian, required him to expound the views of Aristotle, regardless of their conformity to theological truth. Thus, he included provisos in On the Immortality of the Soul, On Incantations, and Apology that stated that his conclusions were merely according to philosophy and that he accepted the determinations of the Catholic Church as having a greater degree of authority than philosophy. Some of his contemporaries and later scholars have seen the inclusion of these provisos as being disingenuous, a means to protect himself from prosecution (Renan 1852: 286; Pine 1986: 123). But other scholars have argued for the philosophical coherence of his employment of probable arguments and deference to faith (see Perrone Compagni 1999: lxxxv–xcvi). In the thirteenth century Albertus Magnus had distinguished between investigations of nature and the divine, contending that the fields have distinct methods and that revelation disagrees at times with arguments based on reason and experience (Martin 2014: 16–18). Although at times Albertus’s position was controversial, a number of medieval philosophers endorsed his view. Thus even if Pomponazzi included these provisos as a protective measure, he nevertheless simultaneously endorsed a long medieval tradition that held that natural philosophy was separate from theology and that theological truths prevailed over philosophical ones (Bianchi 2008).