NOCTUA

La tradizione filosofica dall’antico al moderno

History of Philosophy from the Ancient to the Modern Age

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Autore / Author: Franco Bacchelli

Affiliazione / Author affiliation: Università di Bologna

Titolo / Title: La Considération céleste et les Enseignements de Démétrius Rhaoul Kavàkis (avec deux lettres inédites de Gemistus Plethon)

Abstract: The essay illustrates the figure of Demetrios Kavàkis Rhaoul (1416–1506), Byzantine official at the service of the last two Paleologue emperors and of the Despots of the Peloponnese, who was also George Gemistos Plethon’s friend and student. Two short works of his are here published for the first time, one on the Sun God and another on the classification of the religions professed by humanity, alongside two small inedited letters by Plethon. In the first of the two writings, Kavàkis clears the reasons for his aversion towards any kind of religion or philosophy that places the divine beyond the visible world and that believes in the existence of an intelligible or, even worse, over-intelligible world. These ideas lead him to clash not only with Christianity, but also with Plato and with the ideas of his beloved teacher Plethon, who, however, seems to agree with him in a dream. In the second writing this peculiar solar religion is reaffirmed, against the religion of poets and the religions of transcendence, warning however that nature wants some respect for the religion of ancestors, whichever this might be, when it is functional to the life of the society and of the State.

Keywords: Christianity; Demetrios Kavàkis Rhaoul; Neo-Platonism; Plato; Gemistus Plethon.

English title: The Celestial Theory and the Doctrines of Démétrius Rhaoul Kavàkis (with Two Unpublished Letters of Gemistus Plethon)

DOI: 10.14640/NoctuaIII5

Anno / Volume: III

Fascicolo / Issue: 2

Pagine / Pages: 164-238

Pubblicazione / Publication date: 01/08/2016

Permalink: https://dx.doi.org/10.14640/NoctuaIII5

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ISSN 2284-1180