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Gli spettacoli di Dio e le rappresentazioni degli uomini

2021, Ludovica De Luca (a cura di), Similitudini, metafora e allegoria nel De opificio mundi di Filone di Alessandria

For Philo, God places the stars in the sky, arranges representations according to the proportions of the numbers and the symphonies of the celestial revolutions, makes an archetypal music sound out in preparation for the exercise of philosophy. Everything is set up for the moment when man begins to contemplate the world. The preparation of these objects of wonder is seen in analogy with the work of those on earth who set up gymnastic competitions or theatrical shows or musical performances for the enjoyment of the guests. In the human world, art to be true art and not a form of falsehood, must follow noetic patterns. We can see this aspect in the visual arts, where an artist acts -Bezalel- who draws inspiration from divine indications. Phidias too, even if he is not inspired, brings the ideal types in the matter. In each product, what characterizes perfection is the total adaptation to the model, the idea of which the art object is a copy. There is an ontological descent from the divine work to the products imitating ideal paradigms, to the artifacts gifted with an empirical agreeableness, even if they do not ascend to the idea. In the literary field too, the texts of authors such as Solon or Plato show elements of truth: they are third level works, but they are not negative. The discourse on theater is placed on another level, an emblem of pure appearance that cannot contain truth. My hypothesis is that the theater has a particular status: it is its own nature to be false, not simply illusion, but real deception. It is not a question of being an inferior copy of an ideal eternal model, but of being actually falsehood and lie. From celestial shows to human representations, from celestial music to music or earth sculptures. The real degradation more than of an ontological type, linked to the passage from typos to copy, is often due to the transition from truth to lie. This is particularly present in the theater where the stage representations, often aimed at games of power, to excite the lower instincts, have nothing truthful, in nothing imitate the theater of God.

Gli spettacoli di Dio e le rappresentazioni degli uomini