Books by Dario Gurashi
La filosofia e il suo passato, 2024
Interrogare un pensatore del Rinascimento significa interpellare la totalità culturale di un mond... more Interrogare un pensatore del Rinascimento significa interpellare la totalità culturale di un mondo, rileggere, nelle parole di un protagonista e testimone, il dibattito intellettuale di un’epoca. Per secoli denigrato come stregone, eretico primae classis o scaltro impostore, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim fu piuttosto umanista dalla spiccata vocazione teologica. Il suo impegno per un rinnovamento della cristianità si radicava in una visione militante della cultura, fondata sul dialogo tra i saperi, alla luce di una conciliazione possibile delle tradizioni filosofiche e religiose dell’antichità, nonché sulla persuasione dell’esistenza di un percorso unitario e strutturato di accesso alla verità, incardinato sulle qualità mirabili della mente umana. Un percorso conoscitivo che soltanto la magia, reinterpretata come sapienza divina e divinizzante, avrebbe pienamente rivelato.
Humanistische Bibliothek Reihe I: Abhandlungen, Band: 67. Brill- Wilhelm Fink , Sep 6, 2021
The magic of the Renaissance embodies a great meditation on the human condition.
This book focus... more The magic of the Renaissance embodies a great meditation on the human condition.
This book focuses on the contribution that Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim made to the philosophical discussion. Agrippa views humankind as a microcosm, created by God in His own image, whose purpose is to bring creation to completion. Soul and body conceal divine powers that each person can rightfully awaken through magical knowledge and miraculous practice. Agrippa’s humanism responds to the spiritual crisis that hit the Christian world in the early modern period.
Vita Nova, 2017
Alla luce del primo conflitto mondiale, assunto come esperienza metafisica, Giuseppe Rensi matura... more Alla luce del primo conflitto mondiale, assunto come esperienza metafisica, Giuseppe Rensi matura una filosofia scettica e approda alla storia. La guerra diviene in tal senso simbolo di una consapevolezza tragica, rivelando al pensiero che la ragione è incapace di afferrare l'essenza degli eventi umani. Accertata la scissione tra ragione e storia, Rensi intraprende un'esplorazione metodologica, andando a rintracciare quei contributi filosofici che motivano la razionalità dei processi storici. Il confronto critico con Benedetto Croce e Giovanni Gentile diviene dunque un passaggio inevitabile per ritornare a Hegel, rispetto al quale Rensi intende formulare una propria teoria della storia. Pensatori come Schopenhauer, Renan, Taine, Zeller, Dilthey, Simmel abitano allora la meditazione sul significato della storia e forniscono al filosofo veronese una grammatica dei concetti adatta a favorire una comprensione dei fatti alternativa allo storicismo hegeliano. Collocandosi in una continuità di pensiero, Rensi apre così la sua vicenda intellettuale a una dimensione europea, alimentando però nel paradosso la radicalità dell'approccio: confutare la metodologia idealistica servendosi della dialettica hegeliana. L'esito del percorso teorico è dei più imprevedibili, poiché fonda la decifrabilità della storia su una scelta decisiva: scetticismo o pessimismo.
Casa editrice "Le Lettere"
Collana "Vita Nova"
http://www.lelettere.it/site/e_Product.asp?IdCategoria=&TS02_ID=2046
Articles by Dario Gurashi
Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance, LXXXIV, III, 2022
Quantunque non disponiamo ancora di un'edizione critica della corrispondenza di Agrippa von Nett... more Quantunque non disponiamo ancora di un'edizione critica della corrispondenza di Agrippa von Nettesheim, nondimeno gli studiosi hanno cercato di ricostruire la storia del suo epistolario. In quanto esempio di epistolografia rinascimentale, le lettere di Agrippa si inseriscono nel contesto delle battaglie culturali condotte dagli umanisti contro le autorità religiose tradizionali. Ripercorrendo i risultati della ricerca, questo saggio si propone di definire l'importanza dei carteggi di Agrippa come documento prezioso sia per tracciare lo sviluppo dei suoi interessi esoterici, sia per ridisegnare alcuni passaggi fondamentali nella diffusione della Riforma protestante. Particolare attenzione, quindi, è attribuita alle strategie editoriali che Agrippa persegue tramite la riscrittura di alcune sue lettere, di cui predispone copie rielaborate, finalizzate ad avvalorare il suo impegno teorico e politico.
Mediterranea. International Journal on the Tranfer of Knowledge, 2022
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s reading of Original sin is based on a philosophical approach: in the... more Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s reading of Original sin is based on a philosophical approach: in the declamation De originali peccato he explains the Fall as a metaphor for sexual intercourse and associates each Biblical character with a faculty of the soul: Adam embodies faith, Eve portrays reason, and the Serpent represents sexual desire. By deliberately disobeying God, Adam and Eve reject chastity and claim the divine power of giving life. Their transgression is therefore rooted in the presumption of overcoming the limits of human nature through concupiscence. Moving from the connection between theology and sexuality, Agrippa examines the role of man/faith and woman/reason, which symbolize existential choices aiming at the spiritual redemption of humankind
Bruniana & Campanelliana. Ricerche filosofiche e materiali storico-testuali., 2020
A rather original and meaningful work, a wall calendar which Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nette... more A rather original and meaningful work, a wall calendar which Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim drew up during his stay in Switzerland, has never aroused a specific philosophical interest, although it clarifies controversial aspects of Agrippa’s thought. This essay sheds new light on the scientific value of this writing by decoding its mysterious symbolism and by focusing its astrological and medical purpose. It explains Agrippa’s contribution to astral medicine within his philosophical positioning in the Renaissance debate on astrology
Mediterranea. International Journal on the Transfer of Knowledge, 2020
The reform of culture promoted by Cornelius Agrippa requires a rearrangement of the traditional t... more The reform of culture promoted by Cornelius Agrippa requires a rearrangement of the traditional theological thinking. By recovering the prisca theologia, Cornelius Agrippa intends to free the exegesis of the Scriptures from Scholastic philosophy, guilty of corrupting the meaning of the Word of God through an unruly use of the human reason at the expense of faith. Rethinking the approach to the Bible also means redefining the concept of theology: since it constitutes an investigation into the divine word, theology must abandon dialectical disputes in order to become a way of life characterized by virtue and integrity of faith in Christ. Agrippa’s goal is to show on one hand the ineptitude of the Scholastic theologians on the other to claim for the lay thinker the freedom to interpret the sources of true wisdom.
BRUNIANA & CAMPANELLIANA. Ricerche filosofiche e materiali storico-testuali, 2019
This paper presents the critical edition of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s Dehortatio gentilis theo... more This paper presents the critical edition of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s Dehortatio gentilis theologiae, an invective aimed at challenging the value of Pagan literature and at dissuading from studying the writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, guilty of distracting Christians from the only source of truth, the Gospel. Although the oration apparently disavows Agrippa’s humanistic ideology, its goal is to re-examine the value of Pagan literature for a Christian theologian. On closer inspection, the Ethnicorum philosophia should not be despised at all, as it does not constitute a danger to the good theologian, who has firmly introjected the evangelical message into the soul.
Shift - International Journal of Philosophical Studies - Immanence , 2018
The speculative approach chosen for this essay, stemming from Cassirer's observations, as they we... more The speculative approach chosen for this essay, stemming from Cassirer's observations, as they were stated in some of his works, aims to identify the rational foundations of a discourse concerning human culture. It analyzes the methodological premises and the conceptual conditions for developing a philosophy of culture. According to Cassirer, reason elaborates and organizes its contents by means of symbols; a symbol, in fact, mediates between the consciousness and the world by connecting thought and reality, as it allows human beings to convey ideal meanings through material objects. Therefore the task of the philosophy of culture is to understand how the forms of spiritual life (language, myth, religion, art) are produced through the symbolic function, in order to create and transmit cultural values.
Conference Presentations by Dario Gurashi
Pantheism and Panpsychism in the Renaissance and the Emergence of Secularism. International Conference, Palacky University Olomouc, Czech Republic, 09-11/06/2022
Following Marsilio Ficino's neoplatonic cosmology, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (148... more Following Marsilio Ficino's neoplatonic cosmology, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486-1535) upheld that the whole universe was endowed with a soul. His idea of cosmic order envisaged a mutual connection of all beings through love and hate, sharing the power of the world soul (anima mundi). This universal harmony, as described in his On Occult Philosophy (1533), was based on the ‘spirit’ (spiritus), an ethereal corpuscle which connects body and soul. Its mirific subtlety allowed the influence of the superior beings to be transmitted to the inferior ones, as well as the spread of life over the whole body of universe. Furthermore, Agrippa believed both world and mankind to be God's own images, whose metaphysical bond was at the foundation of the magical virtues of human nature. Starting from his panpsychistic view, this paper aims to decode what Agrippa defined as the mystery of “spiritual regeneration”. This enigmatic concept was borrowed from the Corpus Hermeticum and developed in his declamation On Original Sin (1518) under the influence of Ludovico Lazzarelli. It displayed the anthropological assumption of Agrippa’s later occult treatise: the ability of the human being to “create gods”, which properly meant to create souls after acquiring through language the boundless power of God.
American Association for Italian Studies, Conference Program, Bologna May 29 - June 01, 2022
After entering Italy as imperial ambassador, the German philosopher Agrippa von Nettesheim gave a... more After entering Italy as imperial ambassador, the German philosopher Agrippa von Nettesheim gave a series of lectures on the Corpus Hermeticum at the University of Pavia in 1515. Of what might be considered the first academic course on Hermetic philosophy in history, only the inaugural lecture (praelectio) has survived. During the publich speech in the presence of the students and promoters of his appointment at the Faculty of Theology, Ercole Massimiliano Sforza and Giovanni Gonzava, Agrippa introduced the cornerstone of his teaching: the coincidence of Hermes Trismegistus' doctrines with the message of Christ. Hermetic wisdom, whose historical reconstruction Agrippa attempted, became for him a model for rethinking Christian theology and scholarship. In this light, hermetic revelation proposed an ethical-philosophical learning, embodied by Hermes Trismegistus, the Egyptian prophet and forerunner of St Paul, in which religion harmoniously combines theology, magic and kingship. The present paper aims to explore this chapter of Renaissance philosophy, by examining how the teachings of Marsilio Ficino, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, and Ludovico Lazzarelli, helped Agrippa’s attempts at a philosophical synthesis between Hermeticism and Christianity, both recognized as the repositories, together with the Kabbalah and Neoplatonism, of a homogeneous soteriological wisdom.
Masculinities in the Premodern World: Continuities, Change, and Contradictions, 2020
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s De originali peccato (1518) explains the Fall of Adam and Eve in phi... more Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s De originali peccato (1518) explains the Fall of Adam and Eve in philosophical terms which show a deep political meaning. Agrippa reads Original sin as sexual intercourse between the two progenitors and illustrates a heterodox exegesis of the Fall in which each Biblical character corresponds with a faculty of the soul:Adam represents faith, Eve depicts reason and the Serpent embodies senses and sexual desire. Sin consists in the choice of Adam of deliberately abandoning God, claiming for himself the divine power of giving life. In doing so, Adam bases his masculinity on his biological function: he rejects chastity, imposed by God, and hinges his will to overcome the limits of human nature in the sexual power. Moving from Adam's guilt,Agrippa examines the social role of men, as spokesmen for a gender condition, aiming at the spiritual redemption of humankind.
Deutsch-Italienische Zusammenarbeit in den Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften.
"Im Labor der Mode... more Deutsch-Italienische Zusammenarbeit in den Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften.
"Im Labor der Moderne. Die Schweiz im Zeitalter der Reformation: Theologie, Ontologie und Psychologie zwischen Deutschland und Italien"
Cooperazione italo-tedesca nel campo delle scienze umane e sociali
"Nel laboratorio dei moderni. La Svizzera nell'età della Riforma: teologia, ontologia e psicologia fra Germania e Italia"
Villa Vigoni, 10-14/07/2019
Film Reviews by Dario Gurashi
Il Ponte. Rivista di politica economia e cultura fondata da Piero Calamandrei, Oct 2014
Encyclopedia entries by Dario Gurashi
Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy, 2018
Jakob Wimpfeling (1450–1528) was a prolific German humanist, historian, poet, and advocate of a r... more Jakob Wimpfeling (1450–1528) was a prolific German humanist, historian, poet, and advocate of a renewal within the Catholic Church based on the reorganization of the education system. He denounced the wrongdoing inside the clergy and committed to educate young people through the reading of the classics. Because of the fame acquired, his advice was greatly considered by Emperor Maximillian I in affairs concerning diplomatic relations.
Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy, 2018
The ars dictaminis describes the medieval tendency to organize intellectual activities following ... more The ars dictaminis describes the medieval tendency to organize intellectual activities following precise rules when dealing with oral presentation of written messages. It consists of a system of guidelines, examples, and prescriptions for composing letters on the basis of rhetorical directions drawn from ancient oratory. The successful diffusion of the system throughout the European universities lies in the growing demand for public correspondence among various political and religious institutions in the Late Middle Ages. Public officials found in this art a useful method and numerous examples, helpful in different situations, in order to draft a great deal of letters fitting for the most various authorities, with the due respect for social hierarchy.
Talks by Dario Gurashi
Book Chapters by Dario Gurashi
Routledge, 2024
Cursed Blessings explores the relationship between sexual nonconformity and religious radical dis... more Cursed Blessings explores the relationship between sexual nonconformity and religious radical dissent in the early modern western European world. While many studies have been devoted to the process of the ‘hereticalization’ of nonnormative sexual practices and its use in anti-heretical propaganda, this book is entirely devoted to understanding the meaning of unconventional sexual behaviors from the perspective of the dissenters.
Divided into three parts, the first focuses on the Italian peninsula and explores alternative views on sexuality inspired by Renaissance currents of anti-clericalism, ancient Christian heresies, traditions of apocrypha of the New Testament, and Rabbinic literature. It also examines how embodied and gendered experiences influenced the dissenting views of religious women. The second part explores how reflections on Original Sin led to the questioning of Christian assumptions regarding sex and gender, highlighting the relationship between the criticism of sexual morality and disputes on free will, spirituality, and redemption. The third part examines how most of these threads were entwined into a more coherent philosophical framework in the writings of seventeenth-and eighteenth-century erudite libertines.
This book is designed for academic readers, including graduate and undergraduate students. Given its intersectional approach it will be of interest to researchers, teachers, and students in a wide array of fields, including religious, gender, and sexuality studies, as well as literature. This book also tackles issues that are relevant to present-day debates, such as the problematic relations between sexuality and religion and the ongoing polemics surrounding the complicated interactions between religion and politics.
Sindéresis , 2022
Descripción:
El presente libro nace como un proyecto conjunto entre el Instituto de Estudios H... more Descripción:
El presente libro nace como un proyecto conjunto entre el Instituto de Estudios Hispánicos en la Modernidad (IEHM) y la Provincia Española de la TOR de San Francisco. Su objetivo era profundizar en la figura del «lulista» en la historia, pues faltaba un estudio sistemático sobre las dimensiones de los diversos transmisores de la tradición luliana desde el siglo XIV al XX. Recoge sesenta y seis contribuciones, ordenadas de forma cronológica, de expertos tanto en la obra de Ramon Llull como en la historia del lulismo (en catalán, español, francés, inglés e italiano), y concluye con un ensayo que intenta repensar las categorías del «lulista».
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Books by Dario Gurashi
This book focuses on the contribution that Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim made to the philosophical discussion. Agrippa views humankind as a microcosm, created by God in His own image, whose purpose is to bring creation to completion. Soul and body conceal divine powers that each person can rightfully awaken through magical knowledge and miraculous practice. Agrippa’s humanism responds to the spiritual crisis that hit the Christian world in the early modern period.
Casa editrice "Le Lettere"
Collana "Vita Nova"
http://www.lelettere.it/site/e_Product.asp?IdCategoria=&TS02_ID=2046
Articles by Dario Gurashi
Conference Presentations by Dario Gurashi
"Im Labor der Moderne. Die Schweiz im Zeitalter der Reformation: Theologie, Ontologie und Psychologie zwischen Deutschland und Italien"
Cooperazione italo-tedesca nel campo delle scienze umane e sociali
"Nel laboratorio dei moderni. La Svizzera nell'età della Riforma: teologia, ontologia e psicologia fra Germania e Italia"
Villa Vigoni, 10-14/07/2019
Film Reviews by Dario Gurashi
Encyclopedia entries by Dario Gurashi
Talks by Dario Gurashi
Book Chapters by Dario Gurashi
Divided into three parts, the first focuses on the Italian peninsula and explores alternative views on sexuality inspired by Renaissance currents of anti-clericalism, ancient Christian heresies, traditions of apocrypha of the New Testament, and Rabbinic literature. It also examines how embodied and gendered experiences influenced the dissenting views of religious women. The second part explores how reflections on Original Sin led to the questioning of Christian assumptions regarding sex and gender, highlighting the relationship between the criticism of sexual morality and disputes on free will, spirituality, and redemption. The third part examines how most of these threads were entwined into a more coherent philosophical framework in the writings of seventeenth-and eighteenth-century erudite libertines.
This book is designed for academic readers, including graduate and undergraduate students. Given its intersectional approach it will be of interest to researchers, teachers, and students in a wide array of fields, including religious, gender, and sexuality studies, as well as literature. This book also tackles issues that are relevant to present-day debates, such as the problematic relations between sexuality and religion and the ongoing polemics surrounding the complicated interactions between religion and politics.
El presente libro nace como un proyecto conjunto entre el Instituto de Estudios Hispánicos en la Modernidad (IEHM) y la Provincia Española de la TOR de San Francisco. Su objetivo era profundizar en la figura del «lulista» en la historia, pues faltaba un estudio sistemático sobre las dimensiones de los diversos transmisores de la tradición luliana desde el siglo XIV al XX. Recoge sesenta y seis contribuciones, ordenadas de forma cronológica, de expertos tanto en la obra de Ramon Llull como en la historia del lulismo (en catalán, español, francés, inglés e italiano), y concluye con un ensayo que intenta repensar las categorías del «lulista».
This book focuses on the contribution that Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim made to the philosophical discussion. Agrippa views humankind as a microcosm, created by God in His own image, whose purpose is to bring creation to completion. Soul and body conceal divine powers that each person can rightfully awaken through magical knowledge and miraculous practice. Agrippa’s humanism responds to the spiritual crisis that hit the Christian world in the early modern period.
Casa editrice "Le Lettere"
Collana "Vita Nova"
http://www.lelettere.it/site/e_Product.asp?IdCategoria=&TS02_ID=2046
"Im Labor der Moderne. Die Schweiz im Zeitalter der Reformation: Theologie, Ontologie und Psychologie zwischen Deutschland und Italien"
Cooperazione italo-tedesca nel campo delle scienze umane e sociali
"Nel laboratorio dei moderni. La Svizzera nell'età della Riforma: teologia, ontologia e psicologia fra Germania e Italia"
Villa Vigoni, 10-14/07/2019
Divided into three parts, the first focuses on the Italian peninsula and explores alternative views on sexuality inspired by Renaissance currents of anti-clericalism, ancient Christian heresies, traditions of apocrypha of the New Testament, and Rabbinic literature. It also examines how embodied and gendered experiences influenced the dissenting views of religious women. The second part explores how reflections on Original Sin led to the questioning of Christian assumptions regarding sex and gender, highlighting the relationship between the criticism of sexual morality and disputes on free will, spirituality, and redemption. The third part examines how most of these threads were entwined into a more coherent philosophical framework in the writings of seventeenth-and eighteenth-century erudite libertines.
This book is designed for academic readers, including graduate and undergraduate students. Given its intersectional approach it will be of interest to researchers, teachers, and students in a wide array of fields, including religious, gender, and sexuality studies, as well as literature. This book also tackles issues that are relevant to present-day debates, such as the problematic relations between sexuality and religion and the ongoing polemics surrounding the complicated interactions between religion and politics.
El presente libro nace como un proyecto conjunto entre el Instituto de Estudios Hispánicos en la Modernidad (IEHM) y la Provincia Española de la TOR de San Francisco. Su objetivo era profundizar en la figura del «lulista» en la historia, pues faltaba un estudio sistemático sobre las dimensiones de los diversos transmisores de la tradición luliana desde el siglo XIV al XX. Recoge sesenta y seis contribuciones, ordenadas de forma cronológica, de expertos tanto en la obra de Ramon Llull como en la historia del lulismo (en catalán, español, francés, inglés e italiano), y concluye con un ensayo que intenta repensar las categorías del «lulista».