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Books by Cecilia Muratori

When does Renaissance philosophy end, and Early Modern philosophy begin? Do Renaissance philosoph... more When does Renaissance philosophy end, and Early Modern philosophy begin? Do Renaissance philosophers have something in common, which distinguishes them from Early Modern philosophers? And ultimately, what defines the modernity of the Early Modern period, and what role did the Renaissance play in shaping it? The answers to these questions are not just chronological. This book challenges traditional constructions of these periods, which partly reflect the prejudice that the Renaissance was a literary and artistic phenomenon, rather than a philosophical phase.
The essays in this book investigate how the legacy of Renaissance philosophers persisted in the following centuries through the direct encounters of subsequent generations with Renaissance philosophical texts. This volume treats Early Modern philosophers as joining their predecessors as ‘conversation partners’: the ‘conversations’ in this book
feature, among others, Girolamo Cardano and Henry More, Thomas Hobbes and Lorenzo Valla, Bernardino Telesio and Francis Bacon, René Descartes and Tommaso Campanella, Giulio Cesare Vanini and the anonymous Theophrastus redivivus.

Legenda (Cambridge) - Italian Perspectives, 2020

Should a philosopher be vegetarian? This question had been famously answered in the affirmative i... more Should a philosopher be vegetarian? This question had been famously answered in the affirmative in a classic work on philosophical vegetarianism: On Abstinence from Eating Animals, written by the Neoplatonist Porphyry in the third century AD. This study traces the rekindling of interest in On Abstinence in the Renaissance. It shows that long before the term ‘vegetarianism’ emerged, philosophers, physicians and religious figures discussed the advantages and disadvantages of choosing a meat-free diet. As On Abstinence circulated, via editions and translations, the key questions posed by Porphyry stimulated new debates: is vegetarianism compatible with religious piety? Does a vegetable diet promote or endanger health and longevity? What can be learnt from observing the diets of other, geographically distant populations, such as the vegetarian Brahmans of India, or the cannibals in America? And finally, is it ethically justifiable to eat beings to which sentience and rationality may be attributed?

Catalogue to a series of exhibitions on Jacob Böhme, curated by Claudia Brink, Lucinda Martin and... more Catalogue to a series of exhibitions on Jacob Böhme, curated by Claudia Brink, Lucinda Martin and Cecilia Muratori for the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

Jacob Böhme (1575–1624) is one of the most important German thinkers. His writings have influenced literature, philosophy, religion and art beyond national borders from his time up to the present. One hundred years after the beginning of the Protestant Reformation – on the eve of the Thirty Years’ War – Böhme wanted to give voice to the need for a deep spiritual and philosophical renewal. In a series of exhibitions – in Dresden, Coventry, Amsterdam, and Wroclaw – the Dresden State Art Collections recall this unconventional thinker, whose ideas about the relationship between science and belief, humanity and nature, woman and man are today more current than ever.

This book investigates Hegel’s interpretation of the mystical philosophy of Jakob Böhme (1575-162... more This book investigates Hegel’s interpretation of the mystical philosophy of Jakob Böhme (1575-1624), considered in the context of the reception of Böhme in the 18th and 19th centuries, and of Hegel’s own understanding of mysticism as a philosophical approach. The three sections of this book present: the historical background of Hegel’s encounter with Böhme’s writings; the development of two different conceptions of mysticism in Hegel’s work; and finally Hegel’s approach to Böhme’s philosophy, discussing in detail the references to Böhme both in published writings and manuscripts. According to Hegel, Böhme is “the first German philosopher”. The reason for placing Böhme at the very beginning of German philosophy is that Hegel considers him to be a profound thinker, despite his rudimentary education. Hegel’s fascination with Böhme mainly concerns the mystic’s understanding of the symbiotic relation between God and his opposite, the Devil: he considers this to be the true speculative core of Böhme’s thought. By interpreting Böhme, Hegel intends to free the speculative content of his thought from the limitations of the inadequate, barbarous form in which the mystic expressed it, and also to liberate Böhme from the prejudices surrounding his writings, placing him firmly in the territory of philosophy and detaching him from the obscurity of esotericism. Combining historical reconstructions and philosophical argumentation, this book guides the reader through an important phase in German philosophy, and ultimately into an inquiry about the relationship between mysticism and philosophy itself.

When does Renaissance philosophy end, and Early Modern philosophy begin? Do Renaissance philosoph... more When does Renaissance philosophy end, and Early Modern philosophy begin? Do Renaissance philosophers have something in common, which distinguishes them from Early Modern philosophers? And ultimately, what defines the modernity of the Early Modern period, and what role did the Renaissance play in shaping it? The answers to these questions are not just chronological. This book challenges traditional constructions of these periods, which partly reflect the prejudice that the Renaissance was a literary and artistic phenomenon, rather than a philosophical phase.
The essays in this book investigate how the legacy of Renaissance philosophers persisted in the following centuries through the direct encounters of subsequent generations with Renaissance philosophical texts. This volume treats Early Modern philosophers as joining their predecessors as ‘conversation partners’: the ‘conversations’ in this book feature, among others, Girolamo Cardano and Henry More, Thomas Hobbes and Lorenzo Valla, Bernardino Telesio and Francis Bacon, René Descartes and Tommaso Campanella, Giulio Cesare Vanini and the anonymous Theophrastus redivivus.

Articles by Cecilia Muratori

Revue de sciences religieuses, 2019

At least since Richard Sorabji’s Animal Minds and Human Morals (1993), Aristotle’s theory of anim... more At least since Richard Sorabji’s Animal Minds and Human Morals (1993), Aristotle’s theory of animal irrationality has been viewed as a major turning point in the Western ethical approach to animals. The influential idea traced back to Aristotle is that we are allowed to eat animals because they are irrational. This essay reviews the evidence by reconstructing key steps in the reception of the human/animal differentiation on the level of psychology. It shows that in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, philosophers were in fact less concerned than present-day ethicists with the ethical implication of depriving animals of certain faculties. In the first part, Porphyry’s and Augustine’s views of animal (ir)rationality are compared, showing that their arguments bear some similarity despite their opposite ethical outcome. As the second part discusses, rationality is treated by Domingo De Soto and Tommaso Campanella (as well as by one of their main sources, Thomas Aquinas) as a category of dominion. In the conclusion, these case studies are taken together to suggest that the meaning attributed to human rationality, and not the irrationality of animals, was viewed as the key ethical criterion in the Medieval and Renaissance reception of Aristotle’s psychology.

The Territories of Philosophy in Modern Historiography, ed. by Catherine König-Pralong, Mario Meliadò, and Zornitsa Radeva , Brepols, 2019

Abstract: Considered by some as a path to a deeper understanding of reality, and by others as pur... more Abstract: Considered by some as a path to a deeper understanding of reality, and by others as pure hocus-pocus, the theory of animal magnetism sparked a rich philosophical controversy from the end of the eighteenth century to the first half of the nineteenth century. This essay shows that both supporters and critics of animal magnetism constructed philosophical lineages to frame the position of this theory in the history of philosophy. Animal magnetism was evaluated against the backdrop of its continuities or discontinuities with certain philosophical traditions, and especially Aristotelianism. As Aristotle emerged as the scientist among philosophers, the debate on animal magnetism turned into a reflection on the differences between science and magic. Ultimately, this material indicates that the idea of science as the foundation of modernity stems from a precise historiographical narrative.

Keywords: Animal magnetism, Aristotle, Philosophical historiography, Magic, Modern
science, Paracelsus, Agrippa von Nettesheim, Mary Shelley

in: Nürnbergs Hochschule in Altdorf. Beiträge zur frühneuzeitlichen Wissenschafts- und Bildungsge... more in: Nürnbergs Hochschule in Altdorf. Beiträge zur frühneuzeitlichen Wissenschafts- und Bildungsgeschichte, ed. by Hanspeter Marti and Karin Marti-Weissenbach (Köln/Weimar: Böhlau), 41-66

While a fascination with the mechanics of the body is evident in many Renaissance authors, the qu... more While a fascination with the mechanics of the body is evident in many Renaissance authors, the question about the extent of the animals' rationality also gained currency. I aim to show that already before Descartes these two opposing conceptions of the nature of animals – considered as machines, or as intelligent beings partaking in rationality – intertwined, manifesting a surprising common origin. Drawing especially on the works of Pereira and Tommaso Campanella, I argue that both hypotheses derive from a difficulty in dealing with the view of nature as a continuum, alongside the crisis of the Aristotelian structure of the soul. If no clear line can be drawn to separate sensation and rationality, aren't we forced to conclude that animals must either be rational or lack sensation altogether? While Pereira proposes to follow this second path, Campanella warns that the proper goal is to avoid both these extremes. But the success of Descartes' theory ultimately obfuscated the fact that the distance between animal automatism and animal rationality was shorter than it might seem: they could indeed be viewed as two possible ways to solve (or rather to escape) the problem of dealing with the continuity between man and animal.

Animals populate literature dealing with ideal cities and imagined parallel worlds. In this essay... more Animals populate literature dealing with ideal cities and imagined parallel worlds. In this essay I explore the place of animals in three works sharing utopian traits: Patrizi’s La città felice, Doni’s Mondi, and Campanella’s La città del sole. In particular I investigate the ways in which the narratological device of displacing the man-animal relationship into an imaginary world enables an approach to the theoretical question about the difference between man and animals as well as to the ethical one regarding man’s attitudes and use of the animals. The presence of animals is a neglected aspect of such texts despite the extensive body of scholarship on utopian literature. I argue that it is this specific combination of ontological issues and very practical remarks which makes these texts a particularly important case study for reconstructing Renaissance philosophical discussions on the status of animals. The problem of the man-animal divide and the question about human uniqueness thus appear alongside the discussion of topics such as how to preserve health in an ideal city or suggestions about the best diet for its citizens (a diet based on animals as food, for instance). Such concerns directly involve the assessment of man’s relation to the world of animals, included in these imaginary cities or worlds as co-inhabitants, as sources of food, as living beings which share in various ways the same space as humans, and also as mirrors on which the definition of man as a special animal is projected.

The metaphor of the cheese and the worms recurs frequently in Campanella’s works. As in the case ... more The metaphor of the cheese and the worms recurs frequently in Campanella’s works. As in the case of Ginzburg’s miller Menocchio, the image is used for its explanatory function, as an attempt to convey visually a conception that is particularly problem- atic to grasp. With this image, Campanella intends to show the different ways in which all beings, animal and human, inhabit the earth, as worms in the cheese or in the belly of the world. In this essay I argue that the metaphor is employed specifically to develop the practical aspects of the man-animal distinction: the radical differentia- tion based on man’s possession of a divine mind moves into the background, making way for a series of nuanced differences that become apparent in the behaviour of the ‘human worm’, the only creature conscious of his own position on the earth, and of the ethical effects of his actions.

‘Pitagora tra i cannibali: dieta e ordine dei viventi a partire dalla letteratura rinascimentale ... more ‘Pitagora tra i cannibali: dieta e ordine dei viventi a partire dalla letteratura rinascimentale sul nuovo mondo’, in: Bestie, filosofi e altri animali, ed. by Felice Cimatti, Stefano Gensini and Sandra Plastina (Milan: Mimesis), 143-160

Legenda (Cambridge) - Italian Perspectives, 2020

When does Renaissance philosophy end, and Early Modern philosophy begin? Do Renaissance philosoph... more When does Renaissance philosophy end, and Early Modern philosophy begin? Do Renaissance philosophers have something in common, which distinguishes them from Early Modern philosophers? And ultimately, what defines the modernity of the Early Modern period, and what role did the Renaissance play in shaping it? The answers to these questions are not just chronological. This book challenges traditional constructions of these periods, which partly reflect the prejudice that the Renaissance was a literary and artistic phenomenon, rather than a philosophical phase.
The essays in this book investigate how the legacy of Renaissance philosophers persisted in the following centuries through the direct encounters of subsequent generations with Renaissance philosophical texts. This volume treats Early Modern philosophers as joining their predecessors as ‘conversation partners’: the ‘conversations’ in this book feature, among others, Girolamo Cardano and Henry More, Thomas Hobbes and Lorenzo Valla, Bernardino Telesio and Francis Bacon, René Descartes and Tommaso Campanella, Giulio Cesare Vanini and the anonymous Theophrastus redivivus.

Revue de sciences religieuses, 2019

The Territories of Philosophy in Modern Historiography, ed. by Catherine König-Pralong, Mario Meliadò, and Zornitsa Radeva , Brepols, 2019

Keywords: Animal magnetism, Aristotle, Philosophical historiography, Magic, Modern
science, Paracelsus, Agrippa von Nettesheim, Mary Shelley

This is the second meeting of a working group on the topic of the distinction between man and ani... more This is the second meeting of a working group on the topic of the distinction between man and animal in Renaissance philosophy. Building on the reading seminar which took place in 2010, this conference presents the results of this work-inprogress, aiming at a reconstruction of a relevant yet often neglected topic in the history of philosophy. Thorough discussion of the papers will allow the tracing of recurrent topics -can the soul of animals partake at all in immortality? In what ways can it be considered rational? Is the distance between humans, animals and plants a continuous one or not? -while appreciating the originality of the perspectives and the authors selected.

Is the acknowledgment that animals are rational a good reason for choosing not to eat them? This ... more Is the acknowledgment that animals are rational a good reason for choosing not to eat them? This question was answered in the affirmative by Porphyry. The aim of this paper is to show how discussion on the rationality of animals interacted with reflections on vegetarianism in the writings of Tommaso Campanella. I will show why Campanella agrees with Porphyry on the rationality of animals, while arguing that it is precisely for that reason that humans should - moderately - continue to eat them.

Die Frage nach der Abwesenheit oder Anwesenheit einer Seele bei Tieren ist insbesondere nach Desc... more Die Frage nach der Abwesenheit oder Anwesenheit einer Seele bei Tieren ist insbesondere nach Descartes zu einem zentralen Thema der philosophischen Debatte geworden. Haben Tiere überhaupt eine Seele oder sind sie unbeseelte Automaten? Descartes' These, dass Tiere gefühlsunfähige Automaten seien, wurde bekanntlich schon unter Descartes' Zeitgenossen eifrig debattiert, wie zum Beispiel der Briefwechsel mit Henry More beweist. Ziel des Workshops ist es, relevante Theorien über die Anwesenheit oder Abwesenheit einer Seele bei Tieren und über die Natur der Tierseele, in Hinblick auf die Bedeutung der Wende vor/nach Descartes zu diskutieren. Internationaler Workshop Menschen, Tiere, Automaten: Die Debatte über die Tierseele (LMU München 2.-3. Juli 2010)

In the past decades, starting with the pioneering studies by Piero Camporesi, cultural and social... more In the past decades, starting with the pioneering studies by Piero Camporesi, cultural and social studies of patterns of food consumption and culinary traditions have grown into a research field of their own, known as 'food history'. And yet the philosophical contribution to discussions about food has often been left out of the picture. Contrary to conventional wisdom, philosophers do not inhabit ivory towers, but all sorts of sites of knowledge, including kitchens, food markets, bakeries and oil mills. This one-day conference intends to fill the gap by looking at the history of some ontological and cognitive categories that are especially related to nutrition, eating and cooking, in both their literal and metaphoric uses. Topics to be discussed will include the idea of nourishing the body and the soul in a holistic sense; the physiological and philosophical meanings of food assimilation (including that of appropriating 'otherness'); and the distinction between the natural and the artificial, the raw and the cooked, considering both the material effects and the metaphorical significance of these two types of food.

RIVISTA DI STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA, 2014

International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d'histoire des idées

Difficulties with periodization are often symptoms of internal diseases affecting the history of ... more Difficulties with periodization are often symptoms of internal diseases affecting the history of philosophy. Renaissance scholars and historians of early modern philosophy represent two scholarly communities that do not communicate with each other, as if an abrupt change of scenery had taken place from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century, from the age of Campanella to the age of Descartes. The assumption of an arbitrary division between these two periods continues to have unfortunate effects on the study of the history of philosophy. This chapter provides a diagnosis of this problem by looking at the way in which periodization crystallized in the history of philosophy. It then lays a foundation for attempting a new approach to this issue, which consists in mapping direct connections and conceptual links of seventeenth-century philosophers with the philosophies of the Renaissance. We intend to shift the weight from the problem of assessing the ‘modernity’ of Renaissance philosop...

This chapter, in which the first two chapters converge and culminate, analyses Hegel’s interpreta... more This chapter, in which the first two chapters converge and culminate, analyses Hegel’s interpretation of the mystical philosophy of Bohme in greater detail. The study sets out from two principal theses: that Hegel’s interpretation evolves substantially, and that this evolution is particularly evident in Hegel’s choice of themes and concepts drawn from the writings of Bohme. The inquiry proceeds in an approximately chronological order, from the Jena Wastebook to Hegel’s references to Bohme in published works, and finally to his most comprehensive analysis in the Lectures on the History of Philosophy and in the Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion. Hegel’s interest in Bohme first surfaces during his period in Jena and develops over the subsequent years. It is clear from the comparison of various manuscripts relating to Hegel’s lecture course on the History of Philosophy that his study of Bohme’s writings is still in process during the Berlin years. In particular, Hegel increasingly ...

Oxford Scholarship Online

Why is it at all pleasurable to be in the company of animals such as dogs, monkeys, and cats? Acc... more Why is it at all pleasurable to be in the company of animals such as dogs, monkeys, and cats? According to Schopenhauer, it is because of their “complete naïveté” that we find these creatures so amusing.1 But the company of apes, in particular, must have been especially fascinating to Schopenhauer. He longed to see a living specimen of the great ape, and finally succeeded when a young orangutan was put on display at the 1856 autumn fair in Frankfurt am Main. Upon hearing that the same animal had then been sold and transferred to Leipzig, Schopenhauer was indignant to find out that an acquaintance of his had not seized on this chance to go and see the creature himself. “You must believe me, the orangutan recognizes in man his nobler brotherly relative,” Schopenhauer is supposed to have exclaimed....

International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d'histoire des idées

This chapter situates the interpretation of Bohme’s mysticism within Hegel’s reflection on the na... more This chapter situates the interpretation of Bohme’s mysticism within Hegel’s reflection on the nature of mysticism itself. An analysis of the presence of this theme, from the early writings (Jugendschriften) to the texts following the Phenomenology of Spirit, reveals that Hegel did not maintain a superficial dichotomy between mysticism and conceptual rigor. In Hegel’s writings, it is argued, two substantially different conceptions of mysticism are discernible: he opposes a speculative type of mysticism, characterized by the idea of dialectical movement and exemplified in the approaches of both the Neoplatonists and Bohme, to the pseudo-mystical attitude of the Romantics and of certain followers of Schelling. A close examination of the sections of Hegel’s early writings that develop and problematize the notion of mysticism serves as a starting point to consider the evolution of the two distinct understandings of the term. It will also clarify the frame of reference in which to understand Hegel’s encounter with Bohme’s mysticism. This distinction permits a more precise analysis of the characteristics of Bohme’s mysticism in Hegel’s view, while dispelling the mistaken critical assumption that Hegel rejected all forms of mysticism as leaps into the Absolute that intentionally forgo the labor of conceptuality.

International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d'histoire des idées, 2019

1. The Reception of Bohme's Philosophy around '800.- Preamble: Bohme's Comeback to Ge... more 1. The Reception of Bohme's Philosophy around '800.- Preamble: Bohme's Comeback to Germany and the Romantic Reception.- The Reception of Bohme's Philosophy through Theosophy and Animal Magnetism.- The Historical Context of Hegel's Encounter with the Theosophia Revelata.- 2. Two Different Conceptions of Mysticism in Hegel's Writings.- The Meaning of 'Mysticism' in the Early Writings: Roles and Definitions.- Mysticism and Mystification: Hegel's Denunciation of Mystical Alienation.- Mysticism as SpeculationAppendix: The Loss of Mystical Dynamics: Schelling.- 3. Hegel as Interpreter of Bohme.- The Beginnings: References to Bohme in the Jena writings.- Bohme in Hegel's Published Works.- Bohme in the Lectures.- Conclusion, or How to Liberate Bohme's Philosophy.

Oxford Scholarship Online

This chapter examines the philosophical implications of Renaissance discussions of cannibalism, a... more This chapter examines the philosophical implications of Renaissance discussions of cannibalism, and more generally the pressure put on conceptions of human and animal in the wake of the discovery of the New World. Drawing on the medical tradition, Renaissance thinkers discussed the relationship between the diet, physical constitution, and rationality of various beings, including humans. One result of reflection on these issues was a blurring of the boundary line between human and animal; another was the development of the idea that human character depends to some extent on diet, so that, quite literally, you are what you eat.

British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 2017

The version presented here may differ from the published version or, version of record, if you wi... more The version presented here may differ from the published version or, version of record, if you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the 'permanent WRAP URL' above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription.

Early Science and Medicine, 2017

This article analyses the role that animals play in Della Porta’s method of physiognomics. It cla... more This article analyses the role that animals play in Della Porta’s method of physiognomics. It claims that Della Porta created his own, original, method by appropriating, and yet selectively adapting Aristotelian and pseudo-Aristotelian sources. This has not been adequately reconstructed before in previous studies on Della Porta. I trace, in two steps, the conceptual trajectory of Della Porta’s physiognomics, from human psychology to animal psychology, and ultimately from psychology to ethics. In the first step, I show how Della Porta substantially adapts the physiognomic principle of the body-soul relationship as found in the pseudo-Aristotelian Physiognomonica. In the second, I demonstrate that the real aim of Della Porta’s physiognomics is a practical one, namely understanding how to live a good life, and I explain why he refers to Aristotle in order to ground this conception.

Copyright and reuse: The Warwick Research Archive Portal (WRAP) makes this work by researchers of... more Copyright and reuse: The Warwick Research Archive Portal (WRAP) makes this work by researchers of the University of Warwick available open access under the following conditions. Copyright © and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. To the extent reasonable and practicable the material made available in WRAP has been checked for eligibility before being made available.

Intellectual History Review, May 3, 2017

Essay in: Alles in Allem: Die Gedankenwelt des mystischen Philosophen Jacob Böhme. Eds. Claudia B... more Essay in: Alles in Allem: Die Gedankenwelt des mystischen Philosophen Jacob Böhme. Eds. Claudia Brink and Lucinda Martin, Dresden, 2017: 34-86.

Giostra Altro non bramo, e d'altro non mi cale, che di provar come egli in giostra vale. L. Arios... more Giostra Altro non bramo, e d'altro non mi cale, che di provar come egli in giostra vale. L. Ariosto Laurentii Valle Encomion Sancti Thomae Aquinatis, a cura di S. Cartei, Firenze, Polistampa, 2008 (Edizione Nazionale delle Opere di Lorenzo Valla -ii. Opere religiose, 4), 116 pp. Q uesta edizione critica del breve elogio valliano di Tommaso d'Aquino è preceduta dalla ristampa di un importante intervento di Salvatore I. Camporeale, dal titolo Alle origini della 'teologia umanistica' nel primo '400. L'Encomion S. Thomae di Lorenzo , che inquadra storicamente il testo dell'umanista romano, evidenziando in particolare come la teologia dei padri vi venga contrapposta a quella degli scolastici. Il limite di questi ultimi è quello di avere ontologizzato il linguaggio teologico, mentre adesso si tratta di far valere le ragioni della grammatica e della filologia nel solco di una ripresa a tutto campo della retorica quintilianea. Si tratta non di una non-filosofia, ma di una filosofia diversa, rispetto all'unico modello ritenuto legittimo, vale a dire quello scolastico. Il testo valliano dell'Encomion è curato da Stefano Cartei, che analizza i testimoni manoscritti, le edizioni, le traduzioni, esplicitando infine i criteri adottati per l'edizione. Dopo una prima parte, laudativa, il discorso di Valla si fa stimolante quando comincia a trattare della scienza di Tommaso. Contro chi antepone il maestro a tutti gli altri filosofi per l'uso che egli ha fatto della dialettica, della logica e della filosofia ai fini della teologia, Valla confessa esplicitamente di non amare molto la metafisica e i modi significandi, che possono costituire perfino un impaccio, dal momento che gli stessi teologi patristici antichi fecero a meno di tali metodologie e di tali ausili, nonché dall'usare parole e concetti che avrebbero fatto in seguito la gioia dei teologi tardoscolastici : « Nam sive in nostra lingua fundamentum hec habent, illi latinissimi fuerunt, recentes autem omnes pene barbari ; sive in greca, illi greca noverunt, isti ignorant » (p. 95). Un Basilio, un Crisostomo e tutti gli autori contemporanei « neque dialecticorum captiunculas, neque metaphysicas ambages, neque modorum significandi nugas in questionibus sacris admiscendas putaverunt ac ne in philosophia quidam suarum disputationum fondamenta iecerunt, cum Paulum clamantem legerent "non per philosophiam et inanem fallaciam" » (ibidem). Anche i confronti dei vari pensatori con Tommaso, che si ritrovano nell'ultima parte di questo elogio, paiono ridimensionarsi nettamente rispetto a una presa di posizione culturale e teologica così netta che, contrapponendo antichi e nuovi teologi, mette a contrasto un modello di teologia scritturistica e positiva rispetto a quella scolastica. Assai concentrato è questo tipo di riferimento, ma assolutamente centrale e, so-

Festschrift für Hanspeter Marti zum 65. Geburtstag, 2012

The writings of Jacob Böhme (1575-1624), the mystical philosopher from Görlitz, reached England i... more The writings of Jacob Böhme (1575-1624), the mystical philosopher from Görlitz, reached England in the 1640s and by the 1660s most were published in English. From their earliest publication, Böhme’s writings were influential in Britain. Those who imported Böhme’s texts hoped his views would help to overcome sectarianism. They looked forward to a return of paradise on earth, as described in Böhme’s writings. Furthermore, as new scientific discoveries shook traditional views, seventeenth-century philosophers and scientists were inspired by Böhme’s efforts to reconcile religion and science. This conference explores the varied paths through which Böhme’s thought spread in Britain. It accompanies the exhibition Light in Darkness: The Mystical Philosophy of Jacob Böhme in the Chapel of Christ the Servant, Coventry Cathedral (30th April-5th July 2019).

Der Philosoph und Mystiker Jacob Böhme (1575–1624) zählt zu den wichtigsten deutschen Denkern, de... more Der Philosoph und Mystiker Jacob Böhme (1575–1624) zählt zu den wichtigsten deutschen Denkern, der weit über die Landesgrenzen hinaus zu großer Bedeutung gelangte. Ihm widmen die Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden eine eigene Ausstellung. Denn ungeachtet der Faszination, die Jacob Böhme für Autoren und Künstler späterer Generationen besaß, ist sein Werk heute nur Wenigen bekannt

One of the most important German thinkers, the philosopher and mystic Jacob Böhme (1575 - 1624) made an impact on literature, philosophy, religion and art that resonated well beyond German borders and that persists even today. Focussing on central concepts in Böhmes work, the Dresden State Art Collections are devotingan exhibition to Böhme in the autumn of 2017 because, despite the fact that Jacob Böhme held a great fascination for writers and artists of later generations, his work is little-known today.

We invite researchers who are working on Boehme’s thought and his reception, from the 17th centur... more We invite researchers who are working on Boehme’s thought and his reception, from the 17th century to the present day, to submit proposals for papers at one or more of three planned conferences to take place in Amsterdam, Coventry and Wrocław in 2019.

Villa Diodati Files vol. I: Il primo Frankenstein, 2018

Esistono molti Frankenstein. C'è l'edizione definitiva del 1831, la più nota. C'è quella del 1823... more Esistono molti Frankenstein. C'è l'edizione definitiva del 1831, la più nota. C'è quella del 1823 curata da William Godwin, padre di Mary Shelley. C'è la prima edizione del 1818, scritta da Mary ma profondamente rivista da suo marito Percy. E c'è, infine, il primo Frankenstein: il testo scritto da Mary, e da Mary sola, fra il 1816 e il 1817, e che qui proponiamo per la prima volta in lingua italiana. Composto tra la Svizzera e l'Inghilterra, sullo sfondo di un'Europa devastata dalla guerra, dal gelo e dalla carestia, il primo Frankenstein è il frutto più immediato degli incubi e delle ossessioni di Villa Diodati: un testo scarno, diretto e disperato, un'opera in cui non esiste morale e in cui nulla è certo. Tutti gli scritti legati alle fatidiche 'notti' dell'estate 1816, animate dai coniugi Shelley, da Byron e da Polidori, vengono ricostruiti filologicamente nei due volumi di Villa Diodati Files per condurvi direttamente negli archivi dell'immaginario.

Flyer with general information about Jacob Böhme, in connection with the exhibition "Light in Dar... more Flyer with general information about Jacob Böhme, in connection with the exhibition "Light in Darkness" at Coventry Cathedral, 30 April - 5 July 2019.

This workshop is organized in collaboration with The Cambridge Centre for the Study of Platonism.... more This workshop is organized in collaboration with The Cambridge Centre for the Study of Platonism. It addresses philosophical historiography, along with historiographical practices more generally, as a device of intellectual dissidence. In particular, it focuses on the construction of philosophical genealogies of early modern Europe which, pursuing an ethical and political agenda, challenged dominant historiographical narratives and assumptions. We aim to discuss a series of case studies in the history of Renaissance scholarship from the late 17th until the 20th century. We will explore how in times of cultural and political crisis, the scholarly rediscovery of otherwise marginalized thinkers or intellectual traditions often served the development or the legitimization of an ideal of social, religious or moral reform. The most influential philosophical accounts of the rise of modernity as the age of reason (especially those of J. Brucker, W.G. Tennemann, G.W.F. Hegel in Germany, and of V. Cousin in France) did not attribute any theoretical autonomy to the notion of Renaissance. For example, Hegel’s Lectures on the History of Philosophy dealt with 15th- and 16th-century thinkers in a mere subsection of the part devoted to medieval philosophy. Chronologically, he discussed them before turning to Luther and the Reformation – a sign that they did not share some of the foundational values of modernity. This approach led to what Charles Schmitt in the 20th century labelled the ‘disappearance of the Renaissance’ from histories of philosophy. The workshop aims to qualify this verdict by examining neglected historiographical paths and exploring the motives for their critical stance towards the dominant narratives. The purpose is not just to understand why the Renaissance was ‘lost’, as Schmitt put it, but also to explore why and how it resurfaced in a set of relatively minor or peripheral reception histories. These include among others the work of British historians inspired by the Cambridge Platonists, of historians of philosophy in the Italian Risorgimento or of 20th-century German refugee historians in the United States.
The political substrate in historiographical writing is sometimes regarded as mere distortion or deceit. Instead, we aim to reveal the driving force of ‘dissidence’ in historiographical practices in a dual sense: as a means to (re)construct the past beyond accepted traditions, and as a way to act on the present. Thus the workshop will investigate the recourse to certain philosophical strands as a convergence between the philosophical approach of the sources studied, and the ethical, political and religious world of the historiographer.