No description available.

Tesi di dottorato--Milan--Università, 1999. / Bibliogr. p. 219-238.

Univ., Diss.--Milano, 1999.

La thèse propose une reconstruction de la pensée philosophique et scientifique de Giovan Battista della Porta (1535-1615). En particulier, le travail est consacré à la reconstruction de la notion de « secrets naturels » au cœur de la pensée philosophique de Della Porta et de son projet de réforme de la magie naturelle. Comme je l’ai montré, la rationalisation du «secret de la nature» chez Della Porta est reliée d'un côté aux problèmes de démonologie, de l'autre côté à celles de l'astrologie.La recherche est divisée en quatre parties : la première est consacrée à l’historiographie et à la réception de Della Porta. Le sens de la magie naturelle est étudié du point de vue de la réception immédiate de la pensée de Della Porta, et notamment le problème posé par le statut qu’elle accorde à l’action des démons. Il s’agit aussi de montrer comment la question reste discutée dans l’historiographie récente. La seconde partie est consacrée a la relation de la pensée de Della Porta avec le milieu de l’aristotélisme napolitain. Il s’agit de comprendre la notion de « secrets de la nature » à la lumière des débats relatifs à la connaissance du singulier et de montrer que le problème du statut de la magie naturelle rencontre à Naples les discussions autour de l’épistémologie médicale et de la conception avicennienne de la « forme spécifique ». La troisième partie est consacrée à la question de la causalité et au débat relatif à l’astrologie, ainsi qu’ au sens à donner à la sympathie par laquelle est expliqué l’influx céleste. L’un des objectifs majeurs est de montrer comment Della Porta est amené à limiter le sens que Ficin a donné à la sympathie. Della Porta réinterprète ainsi la conception des « images astrologiques » d’Albert le Grand. La quatrième partie porte sur la tension entre amitié et sympathie dans le contexte de l’astrologie, pour reprendre la question de la ressemblance au cœur des traités de physionomie de Della Porta et de sa méthode de recherche relative aux « secrets de la nature ». Cette méthode s’appuie sur la notion d’une causalité qui touche non la substance, mais les accidents, c’est-à-dire des « particularités individuelles », telles que le mouvement, la couleur, la figure etc., sur lesquelles Della Porta fait reposer la connaissance du singulier. / This thesis focuses on the scientific and philosophical though of Giovan Battista Della Porta (1535-1615). In particular, the purpose of my thesis is to analyse and “reconstruct” the notion of “secret of nature” in Della Porta’s philosophy and in his project for the reformation of natural magic.As I have shown here, Della Porta’s rationalization of the “secret of nature” is connected either with demonological issues and with astrological problems.The thesis is divided into four parts. In the first part, the historiography and reception of the philosophical thought of Della Porta are discussed. The accent is put on the meaning of natural magic with particular regard to the role he assigns to demons. Here I show that the issue is still debated in the recent historiography. The second part introduces the relationship between Della Porta’s thought and the neapolitan aristotelianism. I proposed, here, to understand the notion of “secret of nature” in light of the debates related to the knowledge of “singular”. I have shown that the matter of the statute of natural magic is related to the discussions on the medical epistemology and on the Avicennean conception of forma speciei. The third part deals with the matter of causality and the debate about astrology. Also, it analyses the meaning of the concept of “sympathy”, interpreted as celestial influence. I have shown that Della Porta reinterprets the concept of “sympathy” of Ficino as well as the notion of “astrological image” of Albert the Great. In the fourth part, I studied the relationship between the concepts of “friendship” and “sympathy” in the astrological debate. Then, I studied the principle of “similarity” in Della Porta’s phisiognomy books and in his research methodology about “secrets of nature”. I have shown that this research methodology is based on a concept of causality not concerning the substance, but the “accidents”, i.e. the “individual particularities”: the movement, the color, the figure, etc. According to Della Porta, the knowledge of the singular is based on these “individual particularities”.

This thesis focuses on the significance of blood and the perception of the body in both learned and popular culture in order to investigate problems of identity and social exclusion in early modern Europe. Starting from the view of blood as a liminal matter, manifesting fertile, positive aspects in conjunction with dangerous, negative ones, I show how it was believed to attract supernatural forces within the natural world. It could empower or pollute, restore health or waste corporeal and spiritual existence. While this theme has been studied in a medieval religious context and by anthropologists, its relevance during the early modern period has not been explored. I argue that, considering the impact of the Reformation on people’s mentalities, studying the way in which ideas regarding blood and the body changed from late medieval times to the eighteenth century can provide new insights about patterns of social and religious tensions, such as the witch-trials and persecutions. In this regard the thesis engages with anthropological theories, comparing the dialectic between blood and body with that between identity and society, demonstrating that they both spread from the conflict of life with death, leading to the social embodiment or to the rejection of an individual. A comparative approach is also employed to analyze blood symbolism in Protestant and Catholic countries, and to discuss how beliefs were influenced by both cultural similarities and religious differences. Combining historical sources, such as witches’ confessions, with appropriate examples from anthropology I also examine a corpus of popular ideas, which resisted to theological and learned notions or slowly merged with them. Blood had different meanings for different sections of society, embodying both the physical struggle for life and the spiritual value of the Christian soul. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 develop the dualism of the fluid in late medieval and early modern ritual murder accusations against Jews, European witchcraft and supernatural beliefs and in the medical and philosophical knowledge, while chapters 5 and 6 focus on blood themes in Protestant England and in Counter-Reformation Italy. Through the examination of blood in these contexts I hope to demonstrate that contrasting feelings, fears and beliefs related to dangerous or extraordinary individuals, such as Jews, witches, and Catholic saints, but also superhuman beings such as fairies, vampires and werewolves, were rooted in the perception of the body as an unstable substance, that was at the base of ethnic, religious and gender stereotypes.