Giordano Bruno, universal animation and living atoms

ABSTRACT

One of the most striking features of Giordano Bruno’s philosophy is the marriage of universal animation with atomism. This unusual combination produced an extraordinary image of the universe, which was governed by the World-Soul and its universal intellect along with an infinite number of living atoms or corpuscles, animated by their internal spiritual principle. After examining Bruno’s principal arguments on the World-Soul, universal animation and living atoms or corpuscles, this article explores two possible sources among the works of his near-contemporaries. The first author, Agostino Steuco, tried to reconcile the doctrine of the World-Soul with Christianity, integrating the idea of Anaxagoras on the cosmic mind as the demiurgic agent of the universe. The second figure, Jacob Schegk, further elaborated his unusual atomistic or corpuscular reinterpretation of this Presocratic philosopher’s ideas.

KEYWORDS:

• Agostino Steuco
• Jacob Schegk
• Anaxagoras
• World-Soul
• universal animation
• atomism

Acknowledgements

My warmest thanks go to Clare Hirai, Paul Richard Blum and Yoshi Ohashi for the preparation of this article. The fellowships at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies at Columbia University, the Science History Institute and the Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine were most instrumental. Special thanks to Pamela H. Smith and the members of the Center for Science and Society at Columbia University.

Notes

1 Brüntrup, “Emergent Panpsychism”, 48. For another example, see Skrbina, Panpsychism in the West, 72–6.

2 See Moreau, L’âme du monde; Gregory, Anima mundi; Vassányi, Anima mundi. More recently, see Helmig, World Soul; Wilberding, The World Soul. See also Lapidge, “The Stoic Inheritance”.

3 See Hirai, “Concepts of Seeds”; Hirai, “Earth’s Soul”; Hirai, “The World Soul”, 152–7.

4 See Spruit, Il probelama, 185–205; Canone, “Fenomenologie dell’anima”; Canone, Il dorso e il grembo, passim.

5 See Gatti, Giordano Bruno, 128–42; Gatti, Essays, 70–90; Bassi, “Ancora”.

6 The text I have used is the translation by Robert de Lucca, Bruno, Cause, Principle and Unity, and the revised critical edition in the third volume of Bruno’s Œuvres complètes. The former includes Alfonso Ingegno’s insightful introduction (vii–xxix) on Bruno’s World-Soul. See also Knox, “Bruno”; Blum, Giordano Bruno, passim.

7 Bruno, De la causa, dialogo 2, 37 = Œuvres, III: 113: “dico l’efficiente fisico universale essere l’intelletto universale, che è la prima e principal facultà de l’anima del mondo, la quale è forma universale di quello”. See also the note on the World-Soul by Thomas Leinkauf in Bruno, Œuvres, III: 531–2. On Bruno’s cosmology, see Michel, La cosmologie; Ingegno, Cosmologia; Granada, La reivindicación.

8 Bruno, De la causa, 2, 37 = Œuvres, III: 113–15: “L’intelletto universale è l’intima, più reale e propria facultà e parte potenziale de l’anima del mondo. Questo è uno medesmo, che empie il tutto, illumina l’universo et indirizza la natura a produre le sue specie come si conviene”.

9 On ancient theology, see Walker, The Ancient Theology; Vasoli, “Dalla pace religiosa”; Vasoli, “Il mito dei prisci theologi”. For Bruno, see Granada, “Giordano Bruno”, 72–82.

10 Bruno, De la causa, 2, 38 = Œuvres, III: 117. Cf. Plotinus, Enneads, 5.1.2 = ed. Gerson, 535, as is seen below in Steuco. On Plotinus as the authority of the concept of seeds, see Hirai, Le concept, passim. On the “magi” as the Persians and Chaldeans, see Hirai, “Images, Talismans and Medicine”.

11 Bruno, De la causa, 2, 39 = Œuvres, III: 117–19.

12 See Tracy, “The Soul/Boatman Analogy”. Cf. Aristotle, On the Soul, 2.1, 413a, 8–9. On hylomorphism in the Renaissance, see Manning, Matter and Form.

13 Bruno, De la causa, 2, 40 = Œuvres, III: 123: “cossì l’anima de l’universo, in quanto che anima et informa, viene ad esser parte intrinseca e formale di quello; ma come che drizza e governa, non è parte, non ha raggione di principio, ma di causa”.

14 See Ross, Aristotle, 140; Des Chene, Life’s Form, 67, 79, 81–2; Hirai, Medical Humanism, 89.

15 Bruno, De la causa, 2, 41 = Œuvres, III: 123: “quella senza impedimento s’inalza alle cose superne; quella donando la vita e perfezzione al corpo non riporta da esso imperfezzione alcuna: e però eternamente è congionta al medesmo soggetto”.

16 Bruno, De la causa, 2, 41 = Œuvres, III: 125: “Questo non solo viene affirmato ne l’anima del mondo, ma anco de ciascuna stella, essendo […] che tutte hanno potenza di contemplare Idio, gli principii di tutte le cose e la distribuzione de gli ordini de l’universo”.

17 Bruno, De la causa, 2, 43 = Œuvres, III: 131. On Aristotle’s notion of vital principle, see Aristotle, Generation of Animals, 2.3, 737a5. On the Renaissance reception of this Aristotelian passage, see Hirai, “Telesio, Aristotle and Hippocrates”.

18 Bruno, De la causa, 2, 44 = Œuvres, III: 133: “Sia pur cosa quanto piccola e minima, si voglia, ha in sé parte di sustanza spirituale; la quale, se trova il soggetto disposto, si stende ad esser pianta, ad esser animale, e riceve membri di qualsivoglia corpo, che comunmente se dice animato: perché spirto si trova in tutte le cose, e non è minimo corpusculo che non contenga cotal porzione in sé, che non inanimi”.

19 For Liceti and Sennert, see Hirai, Medical Humanism, 168–72; Hirai, “Mysteries of Living Corpuscles”.

20 On the idea of Anaxagoras, see Leinkauf, Mundus combinatus, 83–91; Hirai, Medical Humanism, 131; Giovannozzi, “Anassagora”. See also below in Steuco.

21 Bruno, De la causa, 2, 44 = Œuvres, III: 135: “quel spirito si trova in tutte le cose, le quali se non sono animali, sono animate; se non sono secondo l’atto sensibili d’animalità e vita, son però secondo il principio e certo atto primo d’animalità e vita”. His term animalità means more than simple “animation”.

22 Bruno, De la causa, 2, 45 = Œuvres, III: 137.

23 Virgil, Aeneid, 6.724–7. Cf. Courcelle, “Interprétations néo-platonisantes”, 107–11. See also Giovannozzi, Spiritus, 44, 61, 76, 212, 244. See also Hirai, Le concept, 25–6, 72, 99, 101, 272, 425, 447.

24 Wisdom, 1.7, as is seen below in the section on Steuco. See also Giovannozzi, Spiritus, 76, 212, 244.

25 Firpo, Il processo, 80–6, 89–104, 169, 254, 299, 350; Albanese, “Bruno”. On the medieval identification of the World-Soul with the Holy Spirit, see Gregory, “Platonic Inheritance”; Adamson, “The Universe”.

26 Bruno, De la causa, 2, 45 = Œuvres, III: 137: “Se dumque il spirto, la anima, la vita si ritrova in tutte le cose, e secondo certi gradi empie tutta la materia, viene certamente ad essere il vero atto, e la vera forma de tutte le cose. L’anima dumque del mondo è il principio formale constitutivo de l’universo, e di ciò che in quello si contiene; dico che se la vita si trova in tutte le cose, l’anima viene ad esser forma di tutte le cose”.

27 Bruno, De la causa, 2, 45 = Œuvres, III: 137.

28 Bruno, De la causa, 2, 46 = Œuvres, III: 139.

29 Ingegno, Cosmologia, 146–52; Granada, “Giordano Bruno,” 66–7, 73–4, 78–9; Albanese, “Bruno”, 185–6; Giovannozzi, Spiritus, 21.

30 On Ficino’s theory, see Hirai, “Concepts of Seeds”, 273–6; Hirai, “The World Soul”, 155–7.

31 I have used the first edition: Steuco, De perenni philosophia. On Steuco, see Schmitt, “Perennial Philosophy”, 515–24; Muccillo, Platonismo, 1–72; Schmidt-Biggemann, Philosophia perennis, 428–34.

32 Steuco, De perenni philosophia, 2.3, 85–90.

33 Plato, Second Letter, 312E. Cf. Ficino, Platonic Theology, 4.1.25, vol. 1, 288. See also Wind, Pagan Mysteries, 241–255; Allen, “Marsilio Ficino”.

34 Cyril of Alexandria, Against Julian, 1.47, 553B (also 8.27, 916B); Smith, Porphyrii philosophia fragmenta, 242–3 (fr. 221). See also Bessarion, In calumniatorem Platonis, 2.5.6, 37; Zorzi, De harmonia mundi, 2.2.6, f. 206v, 1158.

35 Steuco, De perenni philosophia, 2.3, 86: “Diximus autem in veteri theologia, patrem appellatum summum bonum, filium mentem et opificem, spiritum videmus dici animam mundi. Nam anima et spiritus idem sonant”.

36 Steuco, De perenni philosophia, 2.3, 86. Cf. Virgil, Aeneid, 6.726–7. For the case of Cyril of Alexandria, see Moreschini, “Una definizione della Trinità”.

37 Psalm, 103.30; Virgil, Aeneid, 6.728–9.

38 Asclepius, 17, 18, 16, respectively.

39 Cyril of Alexandria, Against Julian, 1.49, 556BC; Scott, Hermetica, vol. 1, 542 (fr. 24). On this fragment, see also Moreschini, “Dal pneuma ermetico”, 458–9.

40 Steuco, De perenni philosophia, 2.3, 87: “Quibus tota spiritus divini natura, vis et proprietas exprimitur. Primum dicit eum a fonte sancto produci, patre scilict ac mente. Plotinus autem dicebat superius, a mente produci animam, quod est a filio spiritum. Nam anima mundi est spiritus divinus. Fontem sanctum patrem cum filio vocat Mercurius”.

41 Plotinus, Enneads, 5.1.2, 534.

42 Plotinus, Enneads, 5.1.2, 535, as is seen above in Bruno.

43 Wisdom, 1.7. Steuco then quotes Virgil, Aeneid, 6.726–7, as is seen again above in Bruno.

44 Steuco, De perenni philosophia, 2.3, 89–90. On Colcodea, see Porro, “Colcodea”; Hirai, Medical Humanism, 153–4.

45 Steuco, De perenni philosophia, 2.3, 90: “Dico igitur omnibus saeculis tres hypostases, aut tria numina, seu tria principia sub aliqua scintilla micuisse. Nam apud Platonicos tria principia commemorantur ab antiqua theologia descendentia, bonum, mens, anima. Ea dicuntur in novissima theologia, pater, verbum, spiritus”.

46 Steuco, De perenni philosophia, 2.15, 116–17.

47 Diels and Kranz, Die Fragmente, vol. 2, 5–44 (hereafter indicated as DK 59). On Anaxagoras, see Curd, Anaxagoras; Tzamalikos, Anaxagoras, Origen and Neoplatonism; Marmodoro, Everything.

48 Anaxagoras, fr. DK 59B12, in Simplicius, Commentary in Aristotle’s Physics, 1.4, 156–7. See also Laks, “Mind’s Crisis”; Lesher, “Mind’s Knowledge and Powers”; Curd, Anaxagoras, 22–5, 56–7, 192–205; Marmodoro, Everything, 129–55.

49 Plato, Timaeus, 41A-D. See also Cornford, Plato’s Cosmology, 139–42; Hirai, Le concept, 91–2, 274; Hirai, Medical Humanism, 119. See also Deichgräber, “Hymnische Elemente”.

50 On the Renaissance reception of Simplicius, see Nardi, Saggi, 365–442; Nardi, Studi, 358–9; Hankins and Palmer, The Recovery of Ancient Philosophy, 30–1. See, however, Brams, “Guillaume de Moerbeke”.

51 On the medieval reception of Simplicius’s commentary on Aristotle’s On the Heavens, see Simplicius, Commentaire sur le traité du ciel; Bossier, “Traductions latines”. As for the complex reception of Diogenes Laertius in the Renaissance, see Hankins and Palmer, The Recovery of Ancient Philosophy, 62–3.

52 Ficino, Platonic Theology, 1.1.2, 1.6.1, 9.7.4, 10.2.13, 11.5.8, 11.6.12, vol. 1, 16, 78; vol. 3, 102, 130, 292, 310; Pico della Mirandola, Conclusiones sive theses 900, 2.3.21-22, 405; Agrippa, De occulta philosophia, 3.64, 595; Vergil, On Discovery, 1.1.3, 1.17.6, 2.7.2, 30, 142, 240–2. However, see, for Pico, Steiris, “Giovanni Pico della Mirandola”.

53 Leoniceno, De virtute formativa, sig. T[i]v-Tiiiv. Cf. Simplicius, Commentary, 2.3, 310–14, on Aristotle, Physics, 2.3, 194b26-27. See also Mugnai Carrara, La biblioteca, 25, 48, 87, 97–8; Hirai, Medical Humanism, 34–9.

54 Simplicius, Commentarii.

55 Simplicius, Commentaria. On Filalteo, see Fazzo, “Lucillo Filalteo”; Baldi, “Consolatio e defensio”.

56 On Schegk, see Kusukawa, “Lutheran Uses of Aristotle”; Frank, Die Vernunft des Gottesgedankens, 89–128; Hirai, Medical Humanism, 80–103.

57 Schegk, In octo physicorum libros. I have used this edition. Although Schegk did not divide his work into chapters following the traditional division of Aristotle’s text, I have added with the square brackets for ease of reference.

58 On Herwagen, see Heckethorn, The Printers of Basle, 117–24; Bietenholz, Contemporaries of Erasmus, vol. 2, 186–7.

59 Schegk, Commentaria, 1.[2], 13. Cf. Aristotle, Physics, 1.2, 184b20–22; Simplicius, Commentary, 1.2, 43–5. On Anaxagoras’s notion of homoiomery, see Aristotle, On the Heavens, 3.3, 302a29-b5; Generation and Corruption, 1.1, 314a16-b1. See also Curd, Anaxagoras, 147–50, 164–77; Marmodoro, Everything, 57–8.

60 See Murdoch, “The Medieval and Renaissance Tradition”. Cf. Aristotle’s Physics, 1.4, 187a20-b7.

61 Schegk, Commentaria, 1.[4], 47–8. Cf. Aristotle, Physics, 1.4, 187a21-26; Simplicius, Commentary, 1.4, 153–7.

62 On Anaxagoras’s axiom “all things were together”, see Aristotle, Physics, 3.4, 203a22–33; Metaphysics, 4.4, 1007b26; 4.5, 1009a27; 10.6, 1056b28; 12.2, 1069b23; 12.6, 1071b27.

63 Schegk, Commentaria, 3.[4], 150. Cf. Aristotle, Physics, 3.4, 203a23–34; Simplicius, Commentary, 3.4, 459–61.

64 Schegk, Commentaria 3.[4], 150: “Quemadmodum autem in animo et intelligentia nostra (secretione noticias atque scientias quando colligit et constituit) principium quoddam inest (quod in semetipsa mens nostra gignit, ratione qua possibilis est) quo pervestigat et secernit omnia deinceps; ita rerum naturalium molitione mens divina, eo quod in semetipso genuit principio (theologi christiani principium illud logon appellant) reliqua omnia machinatus est, cujus (ut dixi) similitudo quaedam in humana mente intelligi consuevit, quam declarandis principiorum rationibus considerasse Anaxagoram verisimile est”.

65 See Hirai, “Jacob Schegk”.

66 Fracastoro, Syphilis; Fracastoro, De contagione. See also Pastore and Peruzzi, Girolamo Fracastoro; Pennuto, Simpatia, fantasia e contagio.

67 Steuco’s De perenni philosophia saw multiple editions published in Basel (1542, 1552) and was also included in his Opera omnia (Paris: Michel Sonnium, 1577, 1578; Venice: Domenico Nicolino, 1591).

68 See Védrine, La conception, 66; Mendoza, “Precursores”; Montano, Le radici presocratiche, 20–2; Murguía, “El nous”; Fantechi, “Anassagora”, 84.

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Hiro Hirai

Hiro Hirai, Ph.D. in philosophy and history of science, University of Lille 3 (France), is a research associate at the Center for Science and Society, Columbia University. He has published widely on Renaissance and early modern natural philosophy, medicine and alchemy, including Le concept de semence (2005) and Medical Humanism and Natural Philosophy (2011). He also edited Jacques Gaffarel between Magic and Science (2014) and coedited Justus Lipsius and Natural Philosophy (2011) and Pseudo-Paracelsus (2022). He is preparing his third monograph on Renaissance natural philosophy, medicine and magic.