Philosophy, the One that Explains Revelation. On the "Political Averroism" in the Defensor Pacis of Marsilius of Padua
Abstract
Bruno Nardi was the first in labelling Marsilius of Padua's Thought as "political averroism". However, since the Christian Middle Ages had no access to Averroes' political Philosophy, Nardi could not speak of political averroism in Marsilius' Thought regarding his political ideas but instead alluding to his philosophical conceptions and, especially, to his methodological attitudes towards the relationship Faith-Reason in the Defensor Pacis. From Nardi's assessment onwards "political averroism" became a polemical historiographical category, which led eventually to a scholar dispute on the existence or non existence of such a philosophical stream in the Mediaeval Thought. In fact, several passages of the Defensor pacis stress the distinction between Revelation and Reason, a distinction that clearly favours a rationalist attitude. Marsilian rationalism is however fluctuant. For instance, when Marsilius explains the birth of the civitas, this institution is attributed to the original sin, instead of being deduced from the concept of nature. Such a theoretical profit of the History of Salvation seems to deny (or at least to weaken) Marsilius' rationalism. This paper seeks to answer three questions: a) if Marsilius puts limits to Revelation in the Defensor pacis; b) which is the range of these limits; and c) if these limits to Revelation may be considered an averroist influence in Marsilius' Thought.Downloads
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