Behind the Scenes at Galileo's Trial (review)
here is Bruno’s fifth philosophical dialogue written and published in London, Cabala del cavallo pegaseo, the emphasis is definitely on the “parva” of the book’s title. In an innovative first chapter, Meroi incorporates recent work done on Bruno’s use of biblical sources into an original study of his daring manipulation of Saint Paul’s Epistles. In a series of further chapters, he goes on to develop an equally original study of Bruno’s satirical use of the sermons of the period, many of which would certainly have been familiar to him from his early monastic training and his brief period as a preaching monk. These chapters break new ground in the study of Bruno’s rhetorical strategies. From his vehemently critical use of these religious texts, Meroi deduces a reading of Bruno’s Cabala as a critique of all those forces that, in his opinion, were impeding the advancement of human knowledge, philosophical inquiry, and debate. The last, and certainly not the least interesting, chapter of the book pursues this theme where it is present in the Cabala not only as a critique of the Christian tradition, both Catholic and Protestant, but also as a critique of classical philosophical skepticism. The promise held out in the title of this book of a study of Bruno’s relevance to the philosophy of the modern world is less fully honored. For the moment, this theme is limited to some few if stimulating considerations of more modern philosophers in two separate chapters. In chapter 6, entitled “Uomini ed animali,” Meroi raises the question of Bruno’s well-known celebration of the animal kingdom as substantially equivalent to the human one, comparing it to Hume’s similar attitude in A Treatise of Human Nature. In chapter 7, entitled “Il pensiero oscuro,” Meroi compares Bruno’s attacks on the abstruse logical and linguistic intricacies of the Aristotelian and scholastic philosophical traditions to John Locke’s and Schopenhauer’s similar objections to the Aristotelians. There is still much more to be done on Bruno’s contribution to the philosophy of the modern world. Nevertheless, after a long season of Bruno studies at times obsessively concerned with his sources, Meroi sets the right example in accentuating the fracture that Bruno’s philosophy opens with the thought of the past. This is a book that throws important new light on Bruno’s works, and particularly on that brilliantly enigmatic Cabala “microcosmica” that has proved such a stumbling block to readers, both contemporary and modern. HILARY GATTI Università di Roma “La Sapienza”