The Metaphysics of Giordano Bruno: An analysis of the dialogue De la Causa, Principio et Uno

The Metaphysics of Giordano Bruno: An analysis of the dialogue De la Causa, Principio et Uno Willian Ricardo dos Santos In De la Causa, Principio et Uno the italian philosopher Giordano Bruno (15481600) elaborates his conception of substance with which he seeks to overcome the peripathetic view that substance is composed of both matter and form. The Nolan argues for a fundamental unit in which matter and form, passive and active potency, can only be aspects or faculties of a being who is onefold, infinite and completely motionless. The interpretative difficulties arise when we try to understand the relationship between the unity of this first principle (uno) and the multiplicity of nature. One of the main arguments used by Bruno on this subject is that the uno that contains all opposites in the sense of enfolding (complicatio), generates the universe by means of a process of self-development (explicatio). Thus, the universe is nothing different from the uno, since it is but its unfolded mode. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the validity of this theory and its consequences for Bruno’s metaphysics. We seek to understand to what extent the metaphysical principle, that is, the uno, is identified with the universe, and whether or not this identification shall exclude any hierarchy between them whatsoever. To answer these questions we analyze the main arguments of De la Causa. We endeavor to respect the order in which the arguments are arranged in the work, because we understand that there is a theoretical movement of elevation to the uno. The thesis we seek to defend is that the concept of Bruno’s substance is ambivalent: on the one hand, it is transcendental, because it is absolutely unlimited; on the other hand, it is immanent, because it is not ontologically different from nature itself. Therefore, while Bruno's metaphysics is to be considered monist, it also has a hierarchical scale of being.

Words-Key: Ontology; Monism; Infinity; Renaissance.