Muratori the “philosopher”, between Modena and Europe

Abstract

Muratori is known universally as a “father of history”, particularly insofar as he rediscovered the Middle Ages through the study of original documents; and later as the driving force behind a new aesthetic taste, one which relieved Italy from “Conceptism”, drawing it towards the poetics of the verisimilitude; not to mention a religious reformist, capable of surprising anticipations. Less well known is Muratori the “philosopher”, although even his contemporaries judged him so, and a number of recent encyclopaedias of philosophy provide him with a well-deserved mention. The essay sets out to show how Muratori’s theoretical and moral system made good use of both his direct and epistolary contacts with the higher reaches of European culture (from Leibniz to Montesquieu to the English Sensists, etc.). The hope remains that the city of Modena, which organises a highly attended “festival of philosophy”, might now take notice of its most prestigious citizen.