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La Magie Naturelle De Giovan Battista Della Porta Donato Verardi

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La Magie Naturelle De Giovan Battista Della Porta Donato Verardi La science et les secrets de la nature à Naples à la Renaissance : la magie naturelle de Giovan Battista Della Porta Donato Verardi To cite this version: Donato Verardi. La science et les secrets de la nature à Naples à la Renaissance : la magie naturelle de Giovan Battista Della Porta. Histoire. Université Paris-Est, 2017. Français. NNT : 2017PESC0091. tel-01938280 HAL Id: tel-01938280 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01938280 Submitted on 28 Nov 2018 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. UNIVERSITÀ DI PISA – UNIVERSITÉ PARIS EST (École doctorale Cultures et Sociétés) Dottorato di ricerca in cotutela in / Doctorat de recherche en FILOSOFIA (XXIX Ciclo): Storia della Filosofia / HISTOIRE : Histoire du Moyen Âge DONATO VERARDI La scienza e i segreti della natura a Napoli nel Rinascimento: la magia naturale di Giovan Battista Della Porta Direttori di ricerca/ Directeurs de recherche: Prof. NICOLAS WEILL-PAROT Prof. ALFONSO M. IACONO Componenti della commissione/ Membres du jury: Nicolas Weill-Parot, Roberto Poma, Alfredo Perifano, Stéphane Toussaint, Alfonso M. Iacono, Vittoria Perrone Compagni, Simonetta Bassi, Sandra Plastina 1 Ringraziamenti Al momento di consegnare la presente tesi dottorale sono lieto di ringraziare in primis i miei direttori di ricerca, il professor Nicolas Weill-Parot, che ha seguito costantemente il mio lavoro, e il professor Alfonso M. Iacono. Un sentito ringraziamento va al professor Stefano Poggi, tutor italiano per molta parte del mio dottorato. In questi anni ho avuto la fortuna di avvalermi dei consigli di numerosissimi studiosi, incontrati per lo più durante la partecipazione ad alcuni convegni di studio in Italia, in Francia, in Spagna e in Inghilterra. A tutti loro va il mio più vivo ringraziamento. Grazie al professor Alfredo Perifano, incontrato a Firenze e poi a Parigi, per i consigli riguardanti la letteratura alchemica e le suggestioni concernenti il tema della “segretezza” ne l Rinascimento. Nel corso della stesura di queste pagine hanno avuto un ruolo basilare gli insegnamenti della professoressa Graziella Federici Vescovini – che per prima ha creduto in questo progetto –, nonché della professoressa Vittoria Perrone Compagni, con la quale in questi anni ho avuto diversi dialoghi per me fondamentali. Grazie anche al professor Tristan Dragon per la lettura del lavoro nella sua stesura finale. Un ringraziamento e un pensiero commosso, infine, vanno alla compianta professoressa Germana Ernst, in ricordo della quale dedico questa tesi. Parigi, 18 gennaio 2017 2 Science and the secret of nature in Naples in the Renaissance: the natural magic of Giovan Battista Della Porta La science et les secrets de la nature à Naples à la Renaissance : la magie naturelle de Giovan Battista Della Porta Mots clés : Giovan Battista Della Porta, Renaissance, Italie, Naples, magie naturelle, astrologie, science, Aristote, secret, occulte Keywords: Giovan Battista Della Porta, Renaissance, Italy, Naple, Natural magic, astrology, science, Aristotle, secret, occult. 3 Centre de recherche en histoire européenne comparée (CRHEC) Equipe d'accueil 4392 Université Paris Est Créteil Val de Marne Bâtiment i, bureau i3-221 61, avenue du Général de Gaulle 94010 Créteil Cédex (FRANCE) Dipertimento di Civiltà e Forme del Sapere Università di Pisa VIA PAOLI, 15 56126 PISA (PI) ITALIA 4 Résumé substantiel 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. Le discours sur le «secret de la nature» et sur sa rationalisation pendant les siècles de la Renaissance est particulièrement complexe et il intéresse des problématiques afférentes à différente s traditions de pensée. L’expérience de Della Porta est assez emblématique des problèmes que les philosophes de la nature italiens ont pu rencontrer en ce temps-là. Je m’attache à démontrer que 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. J’ai étudié le sens de la magie naturelle, 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. J’ai montré comment la question reste discutée dans l’historiographie récente. La seconde partie est consacrée à la relation de la pensée de Della Porta avec le milieu de l’aristotélisme napolitain. La troisième partie est consacrée à la question de la causalité et du débat relatif à l’astrologie et au sens à donner à la sympathie par laquelle on peu t expliquer l’influx céleste. J’ai étudié la tension entre amitié et sympathie dans le contexte de l’astrologie, pour reprendre – dans la quatrième partie – 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 ». Le diable et le secret de la nature : le contexte historique Comme je le montre surtout dans la première partie de la thèse, à l’époque de la Contre-Réforme, le débat démonologique est brûlant. Après la bulle 5 Coeli et terrae contra exercentes Astrologiae Iudiciariae Artem , que le pape Sixte V promulgue le 5 janvier 1586, on pourrait écrire que le diable a été représenté comme un être muni d’un trident : la première branche renfermant la magie,la nécromancie et la sorcellerie ; la deuxième indiquant le rationalisme extrême des athées, des libertins et des fatalistes ; la troisième, et ceci consiste la vraie nouveauté, désignant l’astrologie judiciaire qui procède par conjectures. Cette forme d’astrologie, même si l’on ne peut pas la superposer avec l’astrologie fataliste parce qu’elle est fondée sur la catégorie logique du « possible », doit être considérée de toute façon comme un produit du diable, parce qu’elle pourrait induire en erreur et conduire à l’hérésie. L’association sorcellerie -diable aux XVIͤ et XVIIͤ siècles est alors bien ancrée grâce à presque un siècle d’élaborations conceptuelles sur ce sujet. L’association entre le rationalisme et le diable, même si elle n’est pas une nouveauté, a eu de s on côté des conséquences malheureuses durant cette période. Il semble que les hommes de cultures de ce temps devaient se soucier surtout de l’accusation d’athéisme, de même que ceux que l’on commence à définir avec quelque suspicion comme « naturalistes ». Selon les démonologues, le diable peut arriver à faire croire qu’il n’existe pas. Le diable alors se camoufle grâce à des phénomènes occultes que les « naturalistes » considèrent comme indépendants de l’action démoniaque. « Diabolus [...] opera naturae no n ingreditur » assure ainsi Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639). L’accusation de complicité avec le diable est toujours proche. Certains philosophes cherchent à rationaliser le discours sur la nature, avec des marges de manœuvre très réduites, en sauvegardant la notion de « secret de la nature » de toute contamination démoniaque. Cependant, libérer les « points obscurs » de la nature de la domination du diable, en combattant la croyance dans l’intervention du diable dans le monde naturel (croyance que certains philosophes considèrent alors comme une superstition d’individus mal dégrossis) est plutôt hardi dans ce contexte historique. Il faut faire attention à ne pas tomber dans le piège de la « tentation libertine » du matérialisme astrologique, et de la négation de l’existence des démons qui s’ensuivrait, thèse à la limite de l’athéisme. Mais il est aussi dangereux de défendre l’astrologie conjecturale. Même si elle n’est pas fondée sur une vision fataliste du monde conduisant à 6 l’athéisme, cette forme de savoir est de toute façon suspecte et à la limite de l’hérésie. Et de fait, d’après les autorités religieuses de ce temps, elle est aussi un fruit du diable. La position théorique de Della Porta Comme je le montre, Della Porta s’est chargé de ce problème pour l’essentiel dans la Magia naturalis (1558). Della Porta soutenait ‒ sans pour cela ressentir la nécessité de se justifier ‒ que dans la nature, qu’il comprend comme un ens in fieri , ce ne sont pas les démons qui agissent mais la matière, la forme et la qualité des éléments qui composent la substance naturelle. Le rôle de la forme (qui est produite par le ciel étoilé) est essentiel pour que les vertus physiques des astres soient reçues. Les corps célestes agissent sur le monde avec leur mouvement et leur chaleur, sur la base également du lieu naturel des éléments et de l’aspect du ciel. La forme permet que les influences célestes soient reçues, en donnant au médicament (le «secret de la nature») sa « propriété particulière ». L’action de la forme, même si elle est « occulte », est quand même une action physique, et son siège, le premier ciel, est physique. D’après le philosophe, cela n’est pas en contradiction avec le fait que la forme a une origine divine. Dans un univers structuré « par degrés », du premier ciel il est possible de remonter aux intelligences (que Della Porta, en suivant la doctrine d’Avicenne et de l’auteur du Liber de causis, identifie avec les anges), jusqu’à Dieu lui - même, qui est l’artisan de la forme, ainsi que la cause universelle de chaque être naturel.
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