Togliere la mano dal quadro. Arte, natura e comunicazione della conoscenza in Plinio

Abstract

Does Pliny’s reflection on the notions of completeness/incompleteness – in relation to the aesthetic judgment on the perfection of artworks – also reveal something about the theoretical approach to be reserved for the knowledge of nature? Does the tension between perfection and imperfection have an impact on the ways Pliny promotes knowledge communication? This paper aims to answer these questions by retracing the paths of a subterranean relationship with Cicero’s De Officiis, a work animated by a similar tension, and explicitly praised in the prefatory letter of Pliny’s encyclopaedia. Secondly, this paper will verify the hypothesis according to which Pliny harbors the idea that incomplete knowledge belongs constitutively to human beings. Evidence of this will be the author’s choice of an omnivorous, classifying, dispersive writing style, yet still capable of expressing the perfect ibility of the cognitive relationship with nature.