Providence in the Context of the Defence of the Privileges and Local Liberties

The 1688 establishment in Naples of extraordinary tribunals against four memĀ­bers of the Investiganti by the Roman Inquisition provoked the reaction of the giuridizionalisti employing their old and new practices in the defence of the privileges and local liberties of the City of Naples.

The academics were arrested in 1691 after the election of Pope Innocent xii. Filippo Belli and the mathematician Giacinto De Cristoforo were indicted for teaching atheist and heretical prepositions through their atomic theories. In this way, the trial of the Investiganti turned into an attack on the atomists- atheists. Immediately upon the start of their persecution, the other academics intensified their response, and influential pamphlets were written and disĀ­tributed in the defence of the indicted. Amongst the best known are those in defence of the atomists by Francesco D'Andrea (1694)4⁷ and the arguments in favor of the loyal city of Naples against the extraordinary procedure of the Holy Office by Nicolo Caravita (1696).^{[971] [972] These texts together with other, smaller pamphlets reflected the mobilisation of Neapolitan society behind the case of the atomists-atheists. It was in this context that references to Grotius's theories reached their highest moment in Naples.}

Valletta's manuscript Discorso written around 1693 to 1696 to contest the authority of the Pope in the Neapolitan kingdom, as mentioned above, cirĀ­culated mostly in manuscript. However, the dissemination of Valletta's uses of Grotius was to a great extent mediated by the Jesuit Giovan Battista De Benedictis who considered Valletta one of the champions of the fight against the Inquisition and the propagation of Grotius in Naples.

De Benedictis published a second text in 1695 strongly condemning modern culture: Turris Fortitudinis propugnata a filiis lucis adversusfiliis tenebrarum. Here he argued against the libertas philosophandi and defended theology and scholasticism. For De Benedictis the libertas philosophandi was propagated by atheists and libertines, heretics coming from the Netherlands and other reformed countries. All these authors working on the institution of a new science have only brought about the ruin of all human arts.^{[975] [976] [977] [978] De Benedictis pointed at the partisans of the Accademia degli Investiganti as responsible for the propagation of profane concepts and false truths through their texts. The dissemination of the Cartesian method had led Neapolitans to scepticism and atheism. He scorned the Investiganti for publicizing their discoveries of natĀ­ural phenomena, systems of the universe and methods of philosophising. In his conclusion, the giurisdizionalisti were portrayed as interpreters of the law and reformers of the constitution of the State, and like their European counĀ­terparts, for setting natural law above civil and ecclesiastical laws. In so doing, they presumably subverted not only the laws and foundations of the State, but also the laws of the Church on which rest the bonds of law and society?6}

However, Descartes was not the only one De Benedictis held responsible for the development of the heterodoxy in the Neapolitan kingdom.

Valletta responded to De Benedictis's attack with his history of Western philosophy that immediately was condemned by the Inquisition. The Discorso referred to the works of Montaigne, Pasquier, Descartes, La Mothe le Vayer, and Gassendi together with a significant number of Dutch and Italian forbidden authors, British empiricists, Hobbes,^[979] and Valletta - taking up a claim by De Benedictis - included Di Capua in that lineage. In his Discorso, Valletta sucĀ­ceeded in linking modern atomism with its ancient Italian foundations and the whole tradition of natural philosophy.

In Valletta's reconstruction of the beginnings and connections of the Accademia degli Investiganti, he entered a discussion that included the text by Ioannes Schefferius (1621-1679), and in so doing he arrived at the topic of providence.^[980] Schefferius was one of the most important Swedish humanists from Strasburg who concluded his studies at the University of Leiden in 1639 and in Sweden in 1643. He is mostly remembered for his books Pythagorean Philosophy from 1664 and Laponia from 1673, which is a history of the Sami people. These texts served Valletta, as they did in other European contexts, to establish the grounds for comparing and combining literary with sacred, Greek and Roman classical material together with contemporary studies of northern Europe.61 From this perspective, Valletta's objective seems to have been the decoding of these monuments of antique scholarship, and especially their beliefs.6² Hence, the approach that Vico used subsequently in his studies on the ancient origins of providence should come as no surprise, as Valletta clearly paved the road for it in the form he articulated his history of philosophy.

Valletta continued his studies on human nature following the path of the Investiganti, detaching himself from the Aristotelian method and philosophy and arguing for its incompatibility with experimental science.

Given the fact that the discussions on intellectual freedom had met the campaign for the respect of the privileges and local liberties of City of Naples, Di Capua's claim turned into a critique of the excess of political power and led to the politicisation of Neapolitan culture. Thus, modern philosophy turned into the primary weapon to limit the authority of the Pope and the Spanish monarch.^{[981] [982] [983] [984] The structure of the debate between the giurisdizionalisti and De Benedictis on the conflict with the Inquisition in the 1690s shows how Grotius's natural law theory and modern philosophy intertwined and were used by the Neapolitans in that time and in the following decades.}

After the suppression of the Accademia degli Investiganti in 1683, the giurisdizionalisti continued their activities either in formal academies or in debating societies held in private houses. Amongst the most famous tertulias were the one in the house of Nicola Caravita (1647-1717), and the one in the house of Valletta. Di Capua died in 1695 and in 1696 Caravita maintained the Investiganti reunited around the new Spanish viceroy Luis de la Cerda, Duke of Medinacoeli. In 1698 the Duke of Medinacoeli institutionalized Caravita's debating society as the Accademia Palatina (1698-1701).6⁴

The meetings organized by Caravita and the Accademia Palatina gathered the representatives of the Deputation of the City of Naples, the Investiganti - most of all the giurisdizionalisti -, but also younger researchers, such as Gregorio Caloprese (1654-1715), Gian Vincenzo Gravina (1664-1718), Paolo Mattia Doria (1667-1746), Giovan Battista Vico (1668-1744), Pietro Giannone (1676-1748), Celestino Galiani (1681-1753) and Francesco Maria Spinelli (1688-1752).

The process against the atomists-atheists may have ended in 1697, but the pamphlets against the extraordinary procedures of the Inquisition continued circulating in different forms. One of the recurring points in these pamphlets was an argument for the delimitation of the Pope's authority by impugnĀ­ing the extraordinary trials. Amongst them, Caravita's pamphlet containing arguments in favour of the loyal city of Naples, written around 1695 but not published until 1707, better known as Ragioni stands out. Caravita argued for the indivisibility of the sovereignty of the State.6⁵ He was a coherent reader of Grotius, who was a constant reference in his Nullum ius romani pontificis maximi in Regnum neapolitanum (1707).66 Other texts continued discussing non-extraordinary forms of punishment and the limits of authority of both the Pope and the political rulers. These include Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina's Origines iuris civilis (1708). Gravina was one of the most important readers of Grotius in this period.^[985]

The imminent crisis of the Spanish succession led Neapolitans to concentrate on the foundations of politics. Their tone matched the developments from the past decade. Accordingly, the members of the Accademia Palatina continued evaluating the relation of the Neapolitan kingdom with the Spanish monarch as a kingdom belonging to the Crown of Aragon, and their detachment from Scholastic philosophy in their political treatises.

Gregorio Caloprese occupied a central role in the new academy. His inauguĀ­ral lecture DeWorigine degli imperi was a methodological and political statement. He emphasized the importance of analyzing empires by their composition, espeĀ­cially the smaller parts: cities and men. In DeWorigine Caloprese highlighted the importance of improving knowledge of human nature by focusing on the human body and the passions.6⁸ Along the lines of Descartes, he suggested the study of human passions as the engine that moved humans into action to satisfy their interests and needs.

From 1700 to 1750 Neapolitan authors continued with the agenda established by the Investiganti and systematized by Valletta and Caloprese: the foundations of the state. During the first decades of the new century, Doria and Vico sketched their political philosophies, thus taking a furĀ­ther step: the conceptualisation of the problems of sociability and happiness. In 1709 Doria published, La Vita Civile, which subsequently saw different ediĀ­tions, while Vico explored the power of history and rhetoric7Ā° and methods of pedagogy,^{[986] [987] [988] before drafting his Diritto Universale, published between 1720 and 1722, and his Scienza Nuova, published in 1725. At Doria's suggestion, Vico wrote on the most ancient wisdom of the Italians, which in this context might be seen as a continuation of Valletta's Discorso in search of a constant element in the process of civilisation.}

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