The Physical Universe and the Theoretical Value of Science: Reflections on the Thought of G. Leopardi

The essay has two main purposes. The first consists of discussing some literary and philosophical thoughts on the epistemological value of science by one of the most famous and celebrated poets in Italian literature, Giacomo Leopardi. The poet firmly believes in the cognitive power of science, capable of revealing false beliefs with the light of reason. However, in his mature reflections, what will radically change will not be the value of scientific activity itself, always admirably accepted, but rather its true salvific force. Leopardi was not a scientist, but he used the scientific culture of his time to critically address the great existential themes of man concerning nature and the universe. He had amply demonstrated a scientific culture since his youthful 'History of Astronomy', which would reappear in many of his other literary works. His deep and meditative reflections on the nature of finite and infinite space and time are a clear and fruitful testimony to this. However, Giacomo writes icastically, reason alone is not enough; it needs imagination. The second concerns a first reconstruction of the influence that the philosophy of Enlightenment had on Leopardi’s thought especially in relation to these topics: atheism, rejection of providentialism and anthropocentrism, the conception of nature, the question of the relationship between human and animal intelligence, the rejection of metaphysics, the importance of scientific knowledge.