Abstract:

Thematic persistences and conceptual changes have marked the entire course of history, sometimes proceeding in parallel and sometimes intertwining, but it is undeniable that the early modern age represents in a paradigmatic way a privileged observatory from which to verify the fruitful interaction between theoretical changes and the recovery of sources. The volume offers materials for the study of the ways in which the ideas that make up the modern tradition are transformed, from a deliberately non-systematic point of view. The analysis takes into account two main aspects: the tension between continuity and change; the perception and conceptualization of change. The essays collected here bring out the plural dimension of the modern, a point of convergence of heterogeneous traditions and themes, and focus both on the words used to describe and make perspicuous, in all its forms, change, and on the concepts that have been affected by this change, enriching themselves in a growing polysemicity, and which therefore significantly distinguish the early modern age.