Ingenium. Revista Internacional de Pensamiento Moderno y Metodología en Historia de las Ideas
Ingenium. Revista Internacional de Pensamiento Moderno y Metodología en Historia de las ideas (ISSN-e 1989-3663) is a digital journal devoted to the history and analysis of modern thought, plus any related contemporary questions and debates. The journal's focus is the intellectual space that begins with the Renaissance and lasts until the death of Hegel as the end of modern philosophy. The predominant lines of research include: humanism and Erasmism; the first modernity and the formation and structure of philosophical systems; the categories of Renaissance, Baroque and Enlightenment; modern political theory and political philosophy; Aristotelianism and late scholasticism; Spanish-American thinking from the period; and finally, the problems of methodology and hermeneutics in the field of the history of ideas, including a discussion on historiography categories in the field.
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Departamento de Filosofía IV
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The axiological method of Juan de Borja’s Empresas morales (1680)
In this work, we investigate the method used by Juan de Borja to convince the readers of his doctrine. The author puts his rhetorical resources at the service of his Thomistic teleological moral evaluation system, to convince the reader of its importance. In Empresas Morales (1680), Borja proposes the reader to consider the value of earthly things in relation to the ultimate aim. We can see an important influence of Saint Thomas Aquinas’s theory of the sign in his work. According to that theory, emblems have a transcendent objective: to persuade the reader
Copyright (c) 2025 Ingenium. Revista Electrónica de Pensamiento Moderno y Metodología de las Ideas
Thucydidean Influence on Hobbesian Anthropology
The present work analyses the Thucydides’ influence in Hobbes’ anthropology, in spite of the fact that he never referred to Thucydides in his political theory works. For this to be, in first place, reference is made to the context of production and to the preliminary writings of the edition of Hobbes’ translation of the Peloponnesian War. Secondly, four notions are identified in the Greek thinker’s text: immanent cause, human nature, passions and hiding. Thirdly, we demonstrate how the British thinker appropriates such notions utilizing the geometric method and modern mechanistic metaphysics. Finally, we conclude that this reception provides the possibility of elevating to universal and self-evident categories the Thucydides’ notions, and in such case part of Hobbes’ political philosophy would attempt to be a synthesis between classic humanism and modern natural science. This allows, on the one hand, to rethink the link between the classical and modern world, and, on the other hand, the possibility of extracting trans-historical concepts that can explain different political conjunctures.
Borja García Ferrer, Baltasar Gracián: Filósofo de la Vida Humana (prólogo de José Luis Villacañas). Madrid: Guillermo Escolar Editor, 2023, págs. 211
Historiographical Perspectives on Marius Salamonius’ Contribution to the Principle of Popular Sovereignty
The purpose of this article is to examine the recent historiography of modern political thought (Skinner, Millar, Straumann and Lee), which now fully agrees with D'Addio and Gierke that it was Roman law that played a fundamental role in the development of the idea of popular sovereignty and the doctrine of the social contract; and this thanks to the contribution of the legal humanist Salamone who, in 1513, definitively demonstrated the falsity of the medieval theory of the translatio imperii unintentionally promoted by Ulpian (according to which the Roman people irrevocably transferred sovereign power to the prince Octavian Augustus through the Lex Regia) and the validity of the words of Pomponius, according to which the Roman people elected princes not as masters or legibus solutus, but as ministers, since tyranny and principality are irreconcilable systems by nature. Today, this current of modern historiography takes for granted the idea that the theory of concessio imperii, developed by Salamone himself in De Principatu, forged the general principle of popular sovereignty - the political power of the People is superior to that of the Prince - which was later taken up by Calvinists and French humanists (as well as by the Spanish philosophers and jurists of the School of Salamanca). Besides, this theory would have been the true foundation of the modern doctrine of popular sovereignty and the social contract as conceived by Rousseau, who in his Du contrat social considers the Roman Republic as an example to be followed.
The concept of anima mundi in the Renaissance: Nicholas of Cusa, Marsilio Ficino and Giordano Bruno
The purpose of this article is to study the treatment of the concept of anima mundi in three central figures of Renaissance philosophy: Nicholas of Cusa, Marsilio Ficino, and Giordano Bruno. To achieve this, I analyze Cusa’s conception of anima mundi in his works De docta ignorantia II (1440) and Idiota. De mente (1450). Subsequently, I study the place of the World Soul in Ficinian ontology in selected passages of works such as De amore (1469), Theologia platonica (1482) and the third book of De vita triplici (1489). Finally, I examine the reception of the Platonic concept of anima mundi in the natural philosophy of Giordano Bruno, mainly from the reading of De la causa, principio et Uno (1584) and Lampas triginta statuarum (1586), complementing it when relevant by considerations from other works in his Italian and Latin production. The aim is to analyze the continuities and transformations of the concept of anima mundi in the three philosophers mentioned.
Ethics and politics of virtue: from Classical Antiquity to Modern Society
This article examines the evolution of the concept of virtue from classical antiquity to modernity, with special attention to its reception in Rome and its transformation in the Christian and modern eras. A distinction is made between the theory of virtue and the compendiums of virtues, analyzing the Platonic and Aristotelian models, and projecting onto the modern world the main problems—factionalism, greed, and lack of freedom—that Cicero, Sallust, and Tacitus considered as causes of the moral decline of their time. The text explores how modernity marked a rupture with the tradition of virtue ethics, which underwent various inflections, and how it believed it could overcome these same problems by relying on the rule of law backed by the state, the primacy of legal order, and the invisible action of interest-aggregation mechanisms. Finally, it is argued that the persistence of these issues confirms the ongoing need for virtue ethics as a key to addressing contemporary challenges.
Eugenia Mattei y Leandro Losada (coords.) (2024). Maquiavelo, el pueblo y el populismo: historia, teoría política y debates interpretativos. Buenos Aires: Universidad de Buenos Aires, 339 páginas.
El volumen colectivo Maquiavelo, el pueblo y el populismo reúne una serie de ensayos que abordan de forma rigurosa y multidisciplinaria las complejas intersecciones entre el pensamiento de Nicolás Maquiavelo y el fenómeno del populismo en la teoría política contemporánea. Coordinado por Eugenia Mattei y Leandro Losada, el libro representa una valiosa contribución a los debates actuales sobre republicanismo, democracia y conflicto.
Villar Ezcurra, Alicia (2024). Blaise Pascal: Pensar sin límites. Estudios sobre su pensamiento y obra. Universidad Pontificia de Comillas, 346 páginas.
Bento, António (2022): Espinosa e o Estado dos Hebreus. Ensaios de filosofía política. Lisboa: Documenta, 368 páginas.
The Cartesian test of modern love: imagination, free will and passions
This article tackles the role of emotions in convincing on the dualism advanced by Descartes, closely following the constitution of love at the edge of modus cognoscendi and modus volendi. The following two questions inspire the reflection on love as a spiritual exercise and a constitutive emotion for (self)knowledge: Does love represent a core-emotion for Descartes that regains his Christian thinking at the edge of his metaphysical and epistemological project, apparently excused of any religious implications? What is Descartes’s account of love and how does it (emotionally) change the sense and reception of passions? The Christian implications of love and devotion to God provide access to a so-called implicit political project engaged by Descartes’s work, grounded on the loyalty and adoration of a sovereign anointed in the name of faith.
Copyright (c) 2024 Ingenium. Revista Electrónica de Pensamiento Moderno y Metodología en Historia de las Ideas
The Aristotelian framework of the new Machiavellian ethics
A careful analysis of the Machiavellian treaty Il Principe shows the employment of two very distinct logical methodologies: 1. Set grouping, which leads to Boole’s algebra and is typical of chapters I-XIV and XX-XXVI (with the exclusion of the central part). 2. The logic of approximate reasoning reserved to chapters XV, XIX, where in an order still reasonably “bourgeois” the most revolutionary dynamics are included. These principles, both of Aristotelian origin but belonging to different parts of his work, will have an enormous impact both on the characterization of the Machiavellian political science (which now emerges in a completely different light), as well as in the most emblematic features of Machiavelli’s writing, such as the famous dilemmatic choice.
Hobbes on person represetnativa and person representata
The objective of the following article is to make a comparison between the definitions of person in Hobbes's Leviathan in the English edition of 1651 and the Latin edition of 1668. To do this, we will take into account the possible changes that may have occurred in the definition of person with the publication of De Homine in 1658, showing the importance of constant references to theater in this process. Finally, we will try to suggest the hypothesis that the natural person in Hobbes is always an artificial construction.
Time and progress: Conceptual History and Cartesian modernity
This paper attempts to evaluate the relevance of the work of René Descartes (1596-1650) in the genesis and unfolding of Modernity from the theoretical framework provided by the Conceptual History (Begriffsgeschichte) developed by Reinhart Koselleck. In particular, special attention is paid to the temporal dimension contained in Koselleck's Conceptual History and the role played by Descartes in the constitution of the modern concept of progress, which, according to Koselleck, summarises the experience of a new epoch in one word. The aim is to shed new light on a commonplace in the history of philosophy: the attribution of the paternity of the modern epoch to Descartes.
The role of the female speakers in the venetian literature of the third decade of 16th century
Venetian literature in the third decade of 16th century was characterised by a desire to react against the previous literary tradition. The effects of the Italian wars and the consequent descent of Charles V led to profound political and cultural changes and the decadence of the court system. Authors such as Aretino, Speroni and Piccolomini were among the first to grasp these changes, writing works that polemised against texts set at court such as Bembo’s Asolani and Castiglione’s Cortegiano. One aspect common to this literary production is the prominent role given to female characters. In Aretino’s Ragionamenti, Piccolomini’s Raffaella and Speroni’s Dialogo d’amore, women become the main instrument for expressing new and polemical opinions against the hypocrisy and idealisations of the court world. In this article, we will highlight the most important aspects of these works, showing how the choice of female characters does not respond to a simple literary fashion but rather derives from ideological reasons.
Copyright (c) 2023 Ingenium. Revista Electrónica de Pensamiento Moderno y Metodología en Historia de las Ideas
Educated women praised by Lodovico Dolce
In his treatise Dialogo di M. Lodovico Dolce della institution delle donne secondo li tre stati, che cadono nella vita humana Lodovido Dolce stresses the fact that it is necessary for women’s education to help them develop moral virtues but at the same time he argues that “Che la donna de’imparar lettere” and believes that “li studi delle lettere fanno le Donne buone”. Thus, his reasoning aligned with the perspective of literature and morality aims to form a pedagogical-educational text suitable for women who are either virgins or married or widows. To consolidate his conviction related to the importance of literature as an essential element of women’s education, he presents and praises educated women and portrays them as a worthy and respectable example. Among the various praised figures, Lodovico Dolce speaks highly of Cassandra Fedele, Vittoria Colonna Marquise of Pescara, Veronica Gambara Countess of Correggio, and others.
Laura Cereta’s outraged response to Bibulus Sempronius
In 1488, Laura Cereta composes a letter addressed to Bibulus Sempronius, to whom she writes an outraged response. To her point of view, this weak, shameless and misled man is unable to identify the female virtues; moreover, he is unaware of important female figures that flourished in the past and he doesn’t show the appropriate respect towards the intellectual women. For these reasons, it is examined the author’s defence of the timeless intellectual skills of women as well as the contextualization of the author’s understanding and integration of the humanistic values in her work. Moreover, Cereta points out the necessity of female education and women’s right to be recognized as intellectually equal next to illustrious men.
On the management of family property: a proposal for improvement in Aonio Paleario’s discourse
Aonio Paleario stood out for defending philogynist positions that sought to demystify the structures of patriarchy. Based on the philological examination of Dell’economia o vero del governo della casa (1555), this paper shows how Paleario considered women to be perfectly suitable for asset and property management. For the author, being a man is not necessarily associated with conveying an impression of orderliness and professionalism in family governance. Therefore, by promoting specific actions in favour of women, Paleario uses his discursive thinking to feature how the participation of women in household economy is key to the development of the family.
The second conclusion reached by Hercole Filogenio in his treatise ‘"Dell’eccellenza della donna"
In 1589 Hercole Filogenio wrote a speech entitled Dell'eccellenza della donna wanting to align himself "with the opinion of those who strive to discover the error of many, who are so anxious in aviliating the feminil sex" and dedicated his writing to Flavia Peretti Orsina, a distinguished woman of his time and endowed with a restless spirit who with her interests contributed to the development of the society in which she lived. In his attempt to preserve women from the blame manifested by hegemonic machismo and at the same time praise their virtues, he starts from two conclusions, the analysis and deepening of which, by means of a valid argument, constitute the textual core of his work. The article presents and analyzes the reasoning that Filogenio develops in the second part of his speech on which he intends to base the demonstration of the second conclusion: that Woman is neither superior nor inferior to Man, but similar and equal in nobility, excellence and perfection.
Capitalizing on the Querelle des femmes: A Business Opportunity for its Publishers
In the years of the Querelle des femmes, the publishing market was not immune to the interest aroused by the works framed in this dispute. The replies and counter-replies to the misogynistic treatises seem to have been especially profitable for the printers as this is attested by the fact that, on several occasions, the names of the same publishers are found publishing texts both for and against the women. This paper aims to analyze such occasions and to advance some hypotheses about its publication from the perspective of the commercial interest, instead of the academic one. Being so vast the amount of works that saw the light around this debate, we will limit our analysis to the work of a few editors.
Intertextual relations with women writers in the dialogue of Cristoforo Bronzini d’Ancona
During the years of the Querelle des femmes there was an important growth of texts in defense or in deduction of the female cause. One of the main characteristics of this literary trend lies in the reciprocal relationships that the works establish among themselves, through a dense network of intertextual references. The Dialogo Della Dignità e della nobiltà delle donne (1624) by Cristoforo Bronzini fully adheres to the intertextual practice which it puts at the service of historical-cultural memory. This article analyzes the intertextual relationships of the seventeenth-century treatise with works by writers such as Lucrezia Marinella, Moderata Fonte and Isabella Cervoni, highlighting the different functions that intertextuality fulfills in the texts of the Querelle des femmes.
Story of a “nobilissimo capitano”: the humanitas of Zenobia in Cornelio Lanci’s rewritings
Cornelio Lanci makes use of six treatises of the Esempi della virtù delle donne to testify to the humanitas ante litteram of Zenobia, ruler of the Eastern Empire at the time of Aurelian. The article aims to investigate the possible sources that Lanci used to prepare his personal rewritings of the glorious enterprises of the Queen of Palmyrenes.
Skills and merits of women: the renaissance writers in Cristoforo Bronzini
In the dialogue Della Dignità e Nobiltà delle Donne (1622), Cristoforo Bronzini firmly affirms that there are many women throughout history who have distinguished themselves in the field of writing, despite obsolete prejudices: the article aims to investigate the ways in which Bronzini declines the paradigm of gender difference, offering in particular a brief overview of the humanistic-Renaissance writers that the author proposes as maximum exempla virtutis.
Expresión del ideal femenino en oraciones y canciones fúnebres italianas del siglo XVI
The study of some short orations and poems printed in Italy during the 16th Century on the death of women of the high nobility is a source of great interest to study the language used to present them as models and reduce their personalities to specific archetypical characteristics deep-rooted in the literary and philosophical tradition, formulated in the behavioural literature for women, which multiplied from the middle of the century onwards. In this paper we outline these characteristics in some works dedicated to the death of three of the great ladies of the time in Italy.
Defensione delle donne by Agostino Strozzi. Two mysterious manuscripts
Defensione delle donne, by Agostino Strozzi is one of the most significant phylogin works in the Italian language composed at the end of the 15th century. We are aware of the existence of two versions collected in two manuscripts that present significant contrasts between them. One of them most extensive and above all, most radical in its arguments in defense of feminine virtues, is dedicated to her cousin Margherita Cantelmo. This work describes and delves into the contrasts present in both version or, in other words, in what we can consider as two mysterious manuscripts.
Veturia in the Perigynaecon: the Defence of the Homeland as a Feminine Virtue for Mario Equicola
In 1501, Mario Equicola completed the Perigynaecon, the only philogynist work that the humanist from Alvito composed in his lifetime. This treatise was conceived with a clear instrumental purpose, as the author wished to enter the service of Isabella d’Este, marquise consort of Mantua. Precisely for this reason, behind each of the topics Equicola presents and behind each of the exemplary women he mentions to extol the value of women throughout history, it is possible to establish more or less clear similarities with the problems Isabella had to face in her first decade at the court of Mantua. In this article I analyse the role that Veturia plays within the cast of exemplary women of the Perigynaecon and delve into some of the reasons that might have led Equicola to choose to include Coriolanus’ mother among the women he alludes to in his treatise.
Vincenzo di Blasi, contentious author and philologist in the Women’s Quarrel in Italy, and his response to Aristotle’s misogynist theories
The aim of this article focuses on the contested and philogical work of the Sicilian writer Vincenzo di Blasi in relation to Aristotle's misogynist theories set out in his works Generation of Animals and Politics, both written in fourth century BC. The article opens with an introduction to the studies that have been undertaken on Aristotelian definitions of women in order to define a theoretical framework. Subsequently, the theories of Aristotle and the replies of Vincenzo di Blasi in chapter XIV of his Apologia filosofico-storica in cui si mostra il sesso delle donne superiore a quello degli uomini (1737) are presented in a contrasting manner, demonstrating the author's inclusion within the Women's Quarrel in Italy.
The myth of Iphigenia according to Renaissance writers in favor of women
The myth of Iphigenia has been reinterpreted with extraordinary vitality in a multitude of literary and artistic works throughout the history. This article intends to examine the large repercussion of Iphigenia in the debate on the Querelle des femmes from the recovery of the manuscript of Euripides' tragedy at the end of the s. XV, in authors such as Galeazzo Flavio Capra (Capella), Ludovico Dolce or Lilio Gregorio Giraldi. The reception of this Greek tragedy from Italy, when poured into dramas and treatises, irradiated in modern European culture new emblems about the feminine condition, towards a model of virtue whose morality exceeds the cruelty of gods and men, because it fights for its own freedom and dignity.
Philogynist Writers in the Renaissance Debate on Remarriage: Sperone Speroni’s Del rimaritarsi
In the brief treatise Del rimaritarsi (1542) the Italian humanist Sperone Speroni deals with a topic of interest in the Renaissance, namely that of widows and remarriage. The analysis of this text is compared with those of other humanists of the same period, such as Erasmus, Fusco, Valier, Trissino, Savonarola, Zarrabin, Cabei, Trotto, Dolce or Vives, in order to understand that the defense of marriage also for the widow is one of the key elements of the new concept of family in modern society.
Un brieve trattato dell’eccellentia delle donne and Una brieve essortatione a gli huomini: further analysis of the two 16th century pieces
In 1545, a volume containing two short pieces was published by Damiano de Turlini’s printing house in Brescia: the first was entitled Un brieve trattato dell'eccellentia delle donne and was composed by the Lombard philosopher Vincenzo Maggi; the second, anonymous, had the title: Una brieve essortatione a gli huomini. Vincenzo Maggi, with this short and simple treatise –as he calls it–, refutes the usual contempt for the female gender prevalent in his time, driven by the need to find the truth. He does so without discrediting either the opposing theses or men; on the contrary, he has the intention of convincing them to appreciate women even more and recognise their superior merits. The anonymous author, on the other hand, intends to refute the Lombard philosopher's assertions by urging men to take action, and declares himself intimidated by the idea that women might take over. It is our intention to analyse these two works by presenting their arguments and the ways in which they are put forward, as well as to offer a brief biography of Vincenzo Maggi and to address the issue of the authorship of the second piece.
Escritores en la historia de las ideas filóginas
El número monográfico que aquí presentamos, titulado “Escritores en la historia de las ideas filóginas” reúne contribuciones de especialistas en filología y filosofía de España, Italia y Grecia. Se centra en el estudio e intertextualidad de una serie de textos y autores filóginos que abarcan un periodo histórico muy amplio, desde el siglo XV hasta el XVIII.