Tommaso Campanella: The Book and the Body of Nature

292 Pages·2010·6.92 MB·English

by  Germana Ernst (auth.)

ToMMaso CaMPanella
aRCHIVes InTeRnaTIonales D’HIsToIRe Des IDÉes
InTeRnaTIonal aRCHIVes oF THe HIsToRY oF IDeas
200
ToMMaso CaMPanella:
THe BooK anD THe BoDY oF naTURe
Germana ernst
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Founding Editors:
Paul Dibon† and Richard H. Popkin†
Director:
sarah Hutton (aberystwyth University)
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J.C. laursen (University of California, Riverside)
Editorial Board: M.J.B. allen (los angeles); J.-R. armogathe (Paris);
J. Henry (edinburgh); J.D. north (oxford); M. Mulsow (erfurt);
G. Paganini (Vercelli); J. Popkin (lexington); G.a.J. Rogers (Keele);
Th. Verbeek (Utrecht)
For other titles published in this series, go to
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Tommaso Campanella
The Book and the Body of nature
Germana ernst
Università di Roma Tre
Translated by
David l. Marshall
Kettering University
Germana ernst
Dipartimento di Filosofia, Università di Roma Tre
via ostiense 234, 00144 Roma, Italy
[email protected]
Translator
David l. Marshall
Department of liberal studies
Kettering University
1700 W. Third avenue, Flint
MI 48504, Usa
[email protected]
The translation of this work has been funded by sePs
Segretariato Europeo per le Pubblicazioni Scientifiche
Via Val d’aposa 7 – 40123 Bologna – Italy
[email protected] – www.seps.it
and
Department of Philosophy of the Third University of Rome
IsBn 978-90-481-3125-9 e-IsBn 978-90-481-3126-6
DoI 10.1007/978-90-481-3126-6
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ConTenTs
Preface ....................................................................................................... VII
1 Telesius me delectavit ............................................................................... 1
The Book of nature ................................................................................. 1
In Defense of Telesio against aristotle ................................................. 7
2 From Naples to Padua: Encounters, Conflicts, Trials ........................... 15
naples......................................................................................................... 15
In Rome and Florence ............................................................................. 21
Padua .......................................................................................................... 24
3 The Palace of Atlas ................................................................................... 33
Dogmas and Politics ................................................................................. 33
Philosophy and Poetry ............................................................................. 40
4 Back to Naples and Calabria ................................................................... 45
natural Philosophy ................................................................................... 45
natural ethics ........................................................................................... 50
Machiavellism and Universal Monarchy ............................................... 57
5 The Conspiracy ......................................................................................... 67
The Utopia of liberty .............................................................................. 67
Heresy, Rebellion, and Prophecy ............................................................ 74
Madness, Reason and Dissimulation ...................................................... 80
6 Prophecy, Politics and Utopia ................................................................. 85
Articuli Prophetales .................................................................................. 85
Political Bonds .......................................................................................... 89
The Body Politic: The City of the Sun ..................................................... 95
7 In the Cave of Polyphemus ...................................................................... 105
The Poesie .................................................................................................. 105
sense, Spiritus and natural Magic .......................................................... 114
Religion and nature ................................................................................. 127
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vi Contents
8 Christian Unity........................................................................................ 137
Campanella and Venice .......................................................................... 137
The Papal Primacy: The Monarchia Messiae ....................................... 141
structures of ecclesiastical Government ............................................. 147
Christianity as Universal Religion ........................................................ 152
9 New Heavens ........................................................................................... 159
science and Faith: The Apologia pro Galileo ...................................... 159
Philosophy and Theology ....................................................................... 166
astrology ................................................................................................. 172
Celestial signs ......................................................................................... 177
10 The New Encyclopedia of Knowledge ................................................. 181
Philosophia Realis .................................................................................. 181
The Books on Medicine ......................................................................... 188
arts and sciences of language ............................................................. 195
The new Metaphysics ............................................................................ 200
Theologicorum Libri .............................................................................. 210
11 The Disappointment of Liberty ............................................................ 215
Politicians, Courtiers, and the Prophet’s Fate ...................................... 215
The astrological affair and the Pope’s Horoscope ............................ 220
living and Writing in Rome .................................................................. 226
From the Fall of la Rochelle to the Flight to France ......................... 232
12 The Paris Years ....................................................................................... 243
The arrival in France and the stay in Paris ......................................... 243
From spanish Decline to French Hegemony ...................................... 249
last Writings ........................................................................................... 259
List of Abbreviations ...................................................................................... 267
Index of Names ............................................................................................... 271
Subject Index .................................................................................................. 279
PReFaCe
I know that many will comment on what I say, they will mock me,
they will be after phrases and accents
without the spirit of God, judging me in their own way.
Campanella, Lettere, p. 48
And they want to fight against me with unjust officials, prisons,
handcuffs, bars, ropes, tortures and slayers, darkness and hunger,
whereas I cannot use such weapons against them,
nor do they want to fight with reason.
Ibid., p. 13
even if one has studied an author for many years, perhaps precisely for this
very reason, anything that is said about him or her appears inadequate and
insufficient: an abyss opens up behind each word, every phrase recalls yet
other phrases. With an author like Tommaso Campanella, the feeling of dis-
orientation may turn into actual dizziness. Campanella was bold enough to
address all fields of knowledge. However much his attempt can be better
described as generous rather than pretentious, the whole enterprise was
undoubtedly tricky, marked by all kinds of difficulties, with very diverse out-
comes, which at times cause amazement and emotion, even as on other occa-
sions they prove disappointing and almost irritating. This has led to so many
contrasting evaluations of his thought, characterised as it is by the presence
of both powerfully innovative visions and tenaciously persistent convictions.
all these elements, however, result in a complex picture, which the author,
striking out on tortuous and intricate paths, intended to present as unified by
a coherent vision.
This volume is an attempt at offering a map of the biographical and intellec-
tual journey of Campanella. Taking into account new findings about his life and
works that enhance or correct the classic studies of the author, these pages try to
present, through variations of recurrent motifs, the origins, development, and
persistence of some of the fundamental themes of his philosophy. This map is
necessarily a selective one. needless to say, it can only barely touch upon monu-
mental works such as the Metaphysica, the Theologia, and many others, while it
draws the reader’s attention to less known or forgotten texts. It is a map that
vii
viii Preface
offers itself as an introduction, with an eye to future research and a much-to-be-
desired project of gathering and publishing all the works of the philosopher.
I truly hope that this translation of my monograph on Campanella will
contribute towards a better understanding of the wide-ranging thought of
one of the most original philosophers of the early modern period and that it
will generate further interest in his complex oeuvre. With regard to the Italian
edition (2002) and the subsequent translation into French (2007), I have
limited myself to adding occasional bibliographical references and making a
few minor changes to the text so as to render it more straightforward. I have
also reorganized the material in some chapters in a way that makes the
presentation more coherent.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all those who have contrib-
uted towards the realization of this initiative. I would like to thank, in particu-
lar, sarah Hutton, who kindly suggested that I should publish the volume in
the present series; anita Fei van der linden of springer Publishers, Raffaella
Colombo (sePs – segretariato europeo per le Pubblicazioni scientifiche,
Bologna), and the publishers laterza, who followed and supported the various
phases of the production of the book. I would also like to express my gratitude
to David Marshall, who took on the job of translating a demanding text with
friendly enthusiasm and courage; special thanks are due to Jean-Paul De
lucca for his many suggestions and for compiling the subject index. I would
also like to thank Guido Giglioni for his constant help, and all those whose
affection and friendship have accompanied me throughout my work.
G. e.
Natal chart of Tommaso Campanella (Rome, Archivio di Stato,
Tribunale criminale del governatore, Processi 1630)