I filosofi della voluptas. Riflessioni sul pensiero del primo Marsilio Ficino

This paper aims to show how Ficino’s earlier works reflect his curiosity about authors and doctrines that had been deemed on the verge of heresy throughout the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance. Our study of these texts will show how Ficino ended up setting forth a highly original theo-ry, according to which several ancient theological and philosophical traditions would share, at their core, a peculiar ‘philosophy of pleasure (voluptas)’, which holds the pleasure of the mind as superior to contemplation in the pursuit of the highest form of happiness (beatitudo). This hedonistic doctrine would have been embraced by a chain of authors, beginning with Hermes Trismegistus, continuing with Plato, Democritus, and Pyrrhus, and culminating with Epi-curus. This perspective, according to Ficino himself, was later on accepted as well by Origen of Alexandria, Avicenna, and Al-Ghazali