Tommaso Campanella : the book and the body of nature

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Tommaso Campanella : the book and the body of nature

Germana Ernst ; translated by David L. Marshall

(Archives internationales d'histoire des idées = International archives of the history of ideas, 200)

Springer, c2010

Other Title

Tommaso Campanella : il libro e il corpo della natura

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Originally published: Roma : Laterza, 2002 under title: Tommaso Campanella : il libro e il corpo della natura

Includes bibliographical references and indexes

Description and Table of Contents

Description

A friend of Galileo and author of the renowned utopia The City of the Sun, Tommaso Campanella (Stilo, Calabria,1568- Paris, 1639) is one of the most significant and original thinkers of the early modern period. His philosophical project centred upon the idea of reconciling Renaissance philosophy with a radical reform of science and society. He produced a complex and articulate synthesis of all fields of knowledge - including magic and astrology. During his early formative years as a Dominican friar, he manifested a restless impatience towards Aristotelian philosophy and its followers. As a reaction, he enthusiastically embraced Bernardino Telesio's view that knowledge could only be acquired through the observation of things themselves, investigated through the senses and based on a correct understanding of the link between words and objects. Campanella's new natural philosophy rested on the principle that the books written by men needed to be compared with God's infinite book of nature, allowing them to correct the mistakes scattered throughout the human 'copies' which were always imperfect, partial and liable to revisions. It is in the light of these principles that he defended Galileo's right to read the book of nature while denouncing the mistake of those - be they Aristotelian philosophers or theologians - who wanted to stop him from carrying on his natural investigations. However, Campanella maintained that the book of nature, far from being written in mathematical characters, was a living organism in which each natural being was endowed with life and a degree of sensibility that was appropriate for its preservation and propagation. Nature as a whole was an organism in which each single part was directed towards the common good. This is the reason why Campanella thought that nature had to be regarded as an ideal model for any political organisation. Political structures were often ruled by injustice and violence precisely because they had departed from that natural model. This book charts Campanella's intellectual life by showing the origin, development and persistence of some of the fundamental tenets of his thought.

Table of Contents

I. The Book of Nature. 1. "I was seduced by Telesio" 2. Philosophy Demonstrated through the Senses. 3. From Naples to Padua. Encounters, Conflicts, Trials. II. From the Palace of Atlas to the Way Back. Dogma and Politics. The Dialogo contro Luterani. 2. The Italian Poetica. 3. Natural Philosophy in the Epilogo magno. 4. Natural ethics. . Machiavellianism and Universal Monarchy: the Monarchia di Spagna. III. The Conspiracy. 1. The Utopia of Liberty. 2. The Trials. Heresy, Rebellion, Prophecy. 3. The Prophet and his Destiny. Madness, Reason, and Dissimulation. 4. 'Articuli prophetales' 5. Political Bonds: the Aforismi politici. 6. Body of the Republic: the Citta del sole. IV. In the Cave of Polyphemus. 1 The Poesie. 2. Sense, spiritus, natural magic. 3. Religion and Nature: the Atheismo trionfato. 4. The New Metaphysics. V. Christian Unity. 1. Campanella and Venice. 2. Papal Primacy: the Monarchia del Messia. 3. Modes and Structures of Ecclesiastic Government. 4. Christianity as Universal Religion. The Quod reminiscentur. 5. Theologicorum libri. VI. The Reform of Knowledge and the Composition of the Encyclopedia. . Science and faith. The Apologia pro Galileo. 2. Philosophy and Theology. 3. Astrology. 4. Celestial Signs: the Discorso sulla cometa. 5. The Medicina. 6. Philosophia realis. 7. Philosophia rationalis. VII. The Disappointment of Liberty. 1. Politicians, Courtiers and the Prophet's Fate. 2. The Astrological Affair concerning the Horoscope of Urban VIII. 3. Events and the Roman Writings. 4. French Friendships. From the Fall of la Rochelle to the Departure for France. VIII. The Paris Years. 1. The Arrival in France and the Stay in Paris. 2. From theDecline of Spain to French Hegemony. 3. The Edition of the Opere and the Last Writings. Abbreviations. Index.

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