Nature, Venustas, and Harmony

The present essay investigates aspects of Renaissance philosophy, taking as its starting point a selection of pictorial images that can be understood –because of their rich theoretical references– as true treatises on the philosophy of nature. These traits contribute to a present-day proposal of a plausible ecological paradigm, which builds on what Botticelli, Giorgione, and Leonardo were able to communi cate through their pictorial works. Concepts such as harmony (as an ontological balance among existing things); limit (which can control a human planning aimed at the transformation of the datum of nature); unemendable human ignorance (regarding the long-term effects of our actions); and the relationship between the preservation of the beauty of creation and the survival of our species are constitutive elements of what can be called the paradigm of a “new humanism.” This paradigm can be inferred both from the studies by Arne Naess and from those by Aurelio Peccei: it is a new philosophical koinè, aimed at a respectful knowledge of the world, modeled on the one proposed by the multifaceted genius of the philosopher-painter-architect-engineer-literate Leonardo da Vinci.