Naturalism, Politics and Religion in Giordano Bruno

Abstract

Nolan’s restoration of authentic philosophy and the authentic image of the universe requires an “expulsion of the triumphant beast”, that is, a reform that purges the vices and harmful customs that, according to Bruno, caused the crisis that Europe was living in the 16th century. This is the main premise of the Spaccio de la Bestia Trionfante (1584). From this work, the nolana filosofia begins to turn from a metaphysical-ontological perspective towards an ethical-political perspective. In Bruno´s thought, religion is part of the law that constitutes the State; a fundamental instrument for promoting peace within civil society and a healthy relationship between men, Nature and God. For this reason, the Brunian reflection on the reform of morality and religion present in the Spaccio can be understood as his political philosophy. Thus proposed, the political philosophy of Nolano will have as its main objective the reunification of divine law, natural law and civil law and the recovery of the true usefulness of religion as instrumentum regni, that is, as a political-pedagogical tool to guarantee good coexistence in society and virtue in men. We propose, then, that in the passage from an ontological reflection to the civil-political perspective, the concepts of vicissitudine, coincidentia oppositorum and vinculum amoris are fundamental.