Hermes Trismegisto e o Corpus Hermeticum: um estudo sobre a relação do hermetismo com o pensamento filosófico renascentista

Abstract

The objective of this work is to make an introductory study on the relationship between Hermes Trismegistus (a figure in which is imputed extreme antiquity, considered by the Renaissance scholars as prior to the Plato and contemporary of Moses) and texts attributed to it (the Corpus Hermeticum) with the philosophical Renaissance thinking. In order to do that, conduct an investigation into the influence of that eminent figure in the human mentality, on the construction of a modern science. To this end, we take into consideration its reception, reading and interpretation on the part of the men of the Renaissance. The study seeks to show the efforts of Marcilio Ficino in the urgent translation of the Corpus Hermeticum, a task given by his master Cosimo de 'Medici to the detriment of the translation of Plato's works. In addition, it was necessary to evaluate the main narrative that states that the philosophers, magicians and alchemists of the Renaissance (readers of texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus) played an extremely significant role in the development of modern science, expressed by the historian Frances A. Yates. Once identified that such a thesis deserves updates, this work goes on to verify the contemporary research on the subject, regarding the message of Hermes Trismegistus, and on a probable misconception of its philosophy whose key point is the notion of gnosis, little valued in Ficino's reading.