Bové, José, 18
Bradbury, Ray, 121
Breve storia della bugia (Bettetini), 170
Broch, Hermann, 67
Brown, Dan, 238, 250, 254–255, 260. See also Da Vinci Code, The (Brown)
Brown, Fredric, 70
Brunelleschi, Umberto, 136
Bruno, Giordano, 74
Buddha, 122–123
Burke, Edmund, 38–39
Burton, Robert, 71–72
Cagliostro, 231
camp, 68–69
Canetti, Elias, 120
Capet, Louis (Louis XVI, king of France), 15
Carbonari, 230
Carcass, The (Baudelaire), 63
Carducci, Giosuè, 16
Casablanca (film), 216–219
Casanova, Giacomo, 232
Catullus, 3
Celestial Hierarchy (Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite), 32, 79, 103–104
Céline, Louis-Ferdinand, 55
Cellini, Benvenuto, 114
Chamfort, Nicolas de, 152
change, 94–95. See also innovation
Chapman, George, 218
Charcot, Jean-Martin, 276
Chateaubriand, Francois-Rene de, 202–203
Chesterton, Gilbert Keith, 261
Chiesa, Giuletto, 245
Chomsky, Noam, 253
Chopin, Frédéric, 209
Christianity: beauty in, 51; dwarfs-giants metaphor and, 14; fire in, 106–108; history and, 14; representations of God, 267–268; ugliness in, 51–52. See also God
churches: Gothic, 32; ornamentation in, 37
Cicero, 151
cities, modern, 62–63
claritas. See light / claritas
Clement of Alexandria, 26
clichés, 219
climate change, 122
codes, 223–224
cognitive relativism, 85
Coleridge, Samuel, 179
color: Middle Ages and, 32; sense of, 104
Commandments, 173
Commentaries on Priscian (William of Conches), 12
Commentary on the Celestial Hierarchy (Eriugena), 105
Commentary on the Sentences (Bonaventure of Bagnoregio), 105
commonplaces, reversed, 166–167
communism, 74
computers, generations and, 21
Conan Doyle, Arthur, 128, 133. See also Holmes, Sherlock (fictional character)
Confessio fraternitatis Roseae crucis. Ad eruditos Europae, 228
confidentiality, right to, 225
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Ratzinger), 91
Conjectures and Refutations (Popper), 247–248
consensus, 93
conspiracy, 234–236, 243–261; psychology of, 248, 251–253; real, 243. See also Da Vinci Code, The (Brown); 9 / 11; Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Conspiracy (Pipes), 248
conspiracy syndrome, 235–236, 251–253; The Da Vinci Code and, 250–251; 9 / 11 and, 244–245
conspiracy theory, 244; The Da Vinci Code, 250–251, 254–255; difficulty of keeping secrets and, 246; Jesuits and, 249–250; Lincoln-Kennedy assasinations, 253–254; 9 / 11 and, 253, 254; proof of silence, 245; Protocols of the Elders of Zion, 188–189, 234, 247, 248; Rennes-le-Château, 255–261; techniques used to prove and justify, 253–255; Titanic, 249–250
conspiracy theory of society, 246–248
Constant, Benjamin, 175
consumption, beauty of, 41
Contre-enquete sur la morte d’Emma Bovary (Doumenc), 133
Contro-dolore, Il (Palazzeschi), 65–66
Contro il relativismo (Jervis), 90
Copernican hypothesis, 15
Corbu, Noël, 256
counterfeiting, 183–189
Count of Monte Cristo, The (Dumas), 127, 210–214
Croce, Benedetto, 178, 204–206
crocodile dilemma, 149–150
Cromwell (Hugo), 59
cryptographies, 223–224
cultural relativism, 88–91
cult works, 215–219
Cuore (De Amicis), 54
Curtiz, Michael, 216, 217
Cyrano di Bergerac (film), 135
D’Annunzio, Gabriel, 117, 120
Dante Alighieri, 10, 209, 215; language and, 7–8; light in work of, 104–105; need for Virgil, 9; portrayal of hell, 106–107; powerlessness expressed by, 78–79. See also Divine Comedy (Dante); Inferno (Dante); Paradiso (Dante)
Dantès, Edmond (fictional character), 127. See also Count of Monte Cristo, The (Dumas)
Darwin, Charles, 16, 46
Da Vinci Code, The (Brown), 238, 250–251, 254–255, 260–261
De aeternitate mundi (Aquinas), 92
De Amicis, Edmondo, 54
Death of Empedocles, The (Hölderlin), 118–119
de Bergerac, Cyrano, 58
decadents, 16
deception: fakes, 189–190. See also falsifications; lies
De divisione naturae V (Eriugena), 207–208
De docta ignorantia (Nicholas of Cusa), 75
Defense of Flaccus (Cicero), 151
deity, 266; incarnate, 267–268. See also sacred
de la Peyrère, Isaac, 15
de Lille, Alain, 10
della Francesca, Piero, 30
della Mirandola, Pico, 15
de Molay, Jacques, 259
demoniacal, 38
demons, 258–259
Dénarnaud, Marie, 256
de Sade, Marquis, 61
Descartes, René, 10, 178, 229–230
de Sède, Gérard, 257, 257–258, 259, 260
detachment, aesthetic, 42–44, 47
De Vulgari Eloquentia (Dante), 7
d’Honnecourt, Villard, 30
Di Bernardo, Giuliano, 232–233
Dictionnaire Mytho-Hermétique (Pernety), 110
Diderot, Denis, 203
Diogenes Laertius, 102, 149–150
Dionysius the Carthusian, 268
diplomacy, lies in, 174
diplomatic forgery, 188–189
dissimilitude, 267
dissimulation, 174, 177–178
Dissimulazione onesta (Accetto), 177–178
Divine Comedy (Dante), 209, 215. See also Dante Alighieri; Inferno (Dante); Paradiso (Dante)
Divine Names (Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite), 32
divinity, 266; experience of, 268–284; fire and, 101–106. See also sacred
Dizionario antiballistico (Pitigrilli), 154, 155
Dolcino, Fra, 120
Donation of Constantine, 184, 191
Donna Grottesca (Metsys), 71
Doré, Gustav, 33, 104
doubles, 185
Douglas, Karen, 252
Doumenc, Philippe, 133
drug abuse, generations and, 22
du Bellay, Joachim, 57
Duchamp, Marcel, 17
Dumas, Alexandre, 127; The Count of Monte Cristo, 210–214; The Three Musketeers, 211
dwarfs and giants metaphor. See father-son conflicts; giant-dwarf metaphor; shoulders of giants
Eckhart, Meister, 268–269
Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (Marx), 45–46
ecstasy, aesthetic, 116–117
ekpyrosis, 119, 121–123
elements, threats to, 122. See also fire
11 / 9. La cospirazione impossibile (9 / 11: The Impossible Conspiracy; Polidoro), 245
Eliot, T. S., 217
embryos, 84
Empedocles, 118–119, 120
Enciclopedia filosofica ISEDI, 25
Encyclopédie (Diderot), 16
enemy, 54–57
Enlightenment, giant-dwarf metaphor and, 15–16
Epimenides, 146–147
Epimetheus, 112–113
epiphany, fire and, 115–118
Epistolae (Virgil), 6
Epitomae (Virgil), 5
Eriugena, John Scotus, 32, 105, 207–208
Esperimento di Pot, L’ (Pitigrilli), 155
Essai sur la secte des illuminés (de Luchet), 233–234
Estetica (Pareyson), 201–202, 206–207, 208
ethics: of lie, 173–176; without God, 95–96
Evatlo, 149
evil, 37
excess, 203–214
executions, descriptions of, 48–50
facts, vs. interpretations, 93–96
Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury), 121
faith, 80; truth of, 92
fakes, 189–190
fallibilism, 87
false identification, 183
falsifications, 171–173, 183–189, 191
Fama fraternitatis, 228
fascists, 54–55
fashion, 41
father-son conflicts, 1; in Inferno, 8; reference to past in, 15–16. See also generational clash / generations; giant-dwarf metaphor; innovation; shoulders of giants
Fatima, 108, 236–237, 278, 279–283
Federal Reserve Bank, 249–250
Ficino, Marsilio, 15
fiction: vs. lying, 179–181; possible worlds in, 128–129
fictional characters, 125–144; descriptions of, 126–127; destiny of, 144; diagnostic properties, 140–141; emotion and, 135, 141; fluctuating, 136–139, 140, 142–143; invisibility of, 125; making true statements about, 131–133; outside texts, 126, 132, 136–139; religion and, 142; semiotic objects and, 139, 140; strong identity of, 133; truth and, 130, 138
fictionality, signals of, 180–181
Fides et ratio (John Paul II), 91
Filosofia della bugia (Tagliapietra), 170
Filosofia della massoneria (Di Bernardo), 232–233
fire, 98–124; alchemical, 109–112; beauty of, 103; as cause of art, 112–115; describing beauty in terms of, 117; as divine element, 101–106; ekpyrosis, 121–123; as epiphanic experience, 115–118; functions of, 98; hellfire, 106–108; making, 113–115; psychoanalysis of, 99–101; regenerating, 118–121; torture and, 120; of war, 121–122
fireplace, 98
Fire Sermon (Buddha), 122–123
Firth, Raymond, 278
Flagellation of Christ, The (della Francesca), 30
Flame, The (D’Annunzio), 117
Flaubert, Gustave, 221
Fleming, Ian, 61
fluctuating characters, 136–139, 140, 142–143
Fludd, Robert, 228
Fontanelle, Bernard Le Bovier de, 2
forgeries, 183–189, 191, 257
forgery, diplomatic, 188–189
Formaggio, Dino, 25
Forty Days, The (Maddalena de’ Pazzi), 272
Foucault’s Pendulum (Eco), 238–242
Frankenstein (Shelley), 59
Frazetta, Frank, 69
Freemasons, 231–233, 245, 254
French Revolution, 234, 248
Friedrich, Caspar David, 44, 79
Fuoco greco, Il (Malerba), 121
furor sententialis, 166
Futurists, 65–66
Gaelic, 7
Gale, Megan, 20
Galileo Galilei, 178
Gassendi, Pierre, 12
Gates, Bill, 22
Gaudí, Antoni, 69, 218
G8 conference, 19
generational clash / generations: drug abuse and, 22; giant-dwarf metaphor and, 13; innovation and, 21; need for, 23; in 1968, 18; nonconformity and, 23; in philosophy, 8; requirements for, 19–20; technology and, 21; transgenerational models and, 20–21. See also father-son conflicts; giant-dwarf metaphor; innovation; shoulders of giants
Gesuita moderno, Il (Gioberti), 249
giant-dwarf metaphor, 1, 11; Christianity and, 14; Enlightenment and, 15–16; progress and, 13–14. See also generational clash / generations; shoulders of giants
Gibson, Mel, 48
Gioberti, Vincenzo, 249
Giotto, 34
globalization, 18–19
global warming, 122
Gluckman, Max, 13
God, 266; absolute’s identification with, 74–75; associated with light, 31–32; direct experience of, 268–284; ethics without, 95–96; as Great Void, 268–272; representations of, 267–268. See also sacred
good: vs. beautiful, 42; beauty identified with, 50
Goretti, Maria, 279
gossip, 225–226
Gozzano, Guido, 66–67
Gracián, Baltasar, 174, 178, 224
grammar, imperfect tense in, 221
“Grandmother Speranza’s Friend” (Gozzano), 66–67
Great Schism, 173
Greek culture, ugliness and, 50–51
Greek fire, 121
Gregory of Tours, 4
Greimas, Algirdas, 196
Gronchi pink stamp, 199
Grosseteste, Robert, 33, 34, 105
Gryphius, Andreas, 57–58
Guénon, Réné, 229
Guercino, 258
Guerrini, Olindo, 64–65
Guevara, Che, 18
Guggenheim, Benjamin, 249
Guimard, Hector, 68
Guinizelli, Guido, 26, 104
Gulliver’s Travels (Swift), 180–181
Ham (Biblical figure), 2
Hamlet (Shakespeare), 217
hearth, 98
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 7, 14, 16, 51, 78
height, of ancestors, 9–10
hellfire, 106–108
Heraclitus, 102, 118, 119
hierophancy, 263, 277
Hildegard of Bingen, 33, 54
Hisperic aesthetic, 4–5
historical statements, 132
history: excessive use of, 17–18; as progress, 14; uncertainty in, 132–133, 172. See also ancestors / ancients; past
History of Fra Dolcino, Heresiarch, 120
Hitler, Adolf, 130, 132
Hofstadter, Richard, 252
Hölderlin, Friedrich, 118–119
holism, 86–88
Holmes, Sherlock (fictional character), 128, 129, 138
Holy Grail, 255–261
Holy Grail, The (Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln), 259, 260–261
Homer, 247
Hooke, Robert, 12
Horace, 3, 19
Hugo, Victor, 59–60
humanism, 14–15
Hume, David, 16
Huppert, Isabelle, 136
“Hymn to Satan” (Carducci), 16
Iamblichus, 45
Ibn Khaldun, 223
Ignatius of Loyola, 51–52
Iliad, 50
Illuminati, 230, 234, 249
image, Ockhamist theory of, 264–266
imperfection, 196–221; aesthetics of ruins, 202–203; in art, 201–224; bad music, 219–221; cult works, 215–219; padding / excess, 203–214; structure / support as, 204–214; sublime and, 219
imperfect tense, 221
Importance of Being Ernest, The (Wilde), 161
Incarnation of Jesus Christ, The (Böhme), 271
inconceivable, 78
indefinite, 79
industrial ugliness, 63–64
Inferno (Dante), 8. See also Dante Alighieri; Divine Comedy (Dante)
infinite, 79
infinite, actual, 147
infinite, potential, 147–148
Infinito, L’ (Leopardi), 209
Ingarden, Roman, 127
innovation, 9; acceptance of, 21–23; constant, 23; in language, 4–8; opposition to, 3; praise of ancients and, 10; pride in, 4. See also father-son conflicts; generational clash / generations
In Praise of Imperfection (Levi-Montalcini), 196
insolubilia, 146
integritas, 197
integrity, beauty and, 35
internet, generations and, 21
interpretant sign, 28. See also signs
interpretations, vs. facts, 93–96
invisibility / invisible, 125–144; sacred as, 262; secret societies and, 230. See also fictional characters
Irish (language), 7
irony, 183
Isaac (Biblical figure), 2
Isidore of Seville, 151
; Italian (language), 7–8
Jacob (Biblical figure), 2
Jacobins, 234
Jeauneau, Édouard, 11
Jerome, Saint, 4–5
Jervis, Giovanni, 90
Jesuits, 176, 178, 249–250
Jews: descriptions of, 55–57; 9 / 11 conspiracy theory and, 244; Protocols of the Elders of Zion, 188–189, 234, 247, 248; on Titanic, 249–250
John of Salisbury, 11, 12, 13
John of the Cross, Saint, 80, 81, 269–271, 277
John Paul II (pope), 91, 236
John XXIII (pope), 236
Jolley, Daniel, 252
Jones, Jennifer, 278
Joyce, James, 17, 75, 117, 118
Judaism in Music (Wagner), 56
Kafka, Franz, 80
Kant, Immanuel, 16, 85, 175, 176, 177
Karenina, Anna (fictional character), 126–127, 128, 130, 133, 135, 138, 141
Keats, John, 80–81, 97
Kennedy, John F., 253–254
Key, The (Tanizaki), 200–201
kitsch, 66–68, 214
Knights Templar, 231, 234, 248, 257, 259
Kraus, Karl, 167–168
Kugelmass Episode, The (film), 141
Kyd, Thomas, 217, 218
Kyoto Protocol, 122
Labruyère, Joël, 249
language: innovation in, 4–8; vernacular, 6–8, 19
Last Judgment (Giotto), 34
Last Supper (Leonardo), 254–255
Latin, 4
La Tour, Georges de, 32
Lautréamont, Comte de [Isidore Ducasse], 65
Léa (d’Aurevilly), 26–27, 59
Lec, Stanislaw J., 168–169
Lecaldano, Eugenio, 95
Leibniz, Wilhelm Gottfried, 184
Leigh, Richard, 259, 260–261
Lenin, Vladimir, 81
Leonardo da Vinci, 30, 254–255
Leopardi, Giacomo, 14, 79, 199, 209
Lettres provinciales (Pascal), 249
Levi-Montalcini, Rita, 196
Lévi-Strauss, Claude, 114
Lhomoy, Roger, 257
liar, self-professed, 146–147
lies, 169–195; bad faith, 182–183; in Baroque era, 176–179; based on monadic relationship, 182–183; based on triadic relationship, 183; in diplomacy, 174; Eco’s definition of, 170–171; ethics of, 173–176; malicious, 176; vs. mistakes, 171; vs. narrative fiction, 179–181; secrets and, 238; white, 176
Life (Cellini), 114
Life of Pythagoras (Iamblichus), 45
light / claritas, 104; beauty and, 31–34 (see also beauty); cosmology of, 105; God associated with, 31–32; Middle Ages and, 32, 104–105; in Paradiso, 33
Lincoln, Abraham, 253–254
Lincoln, Henry, 259, 260–261
linguistic holism, 87–88
Linguistics of Lying, The (Weinrich), 183
lithium, 76–77
loan words, 5