Daimon, Renaissance Idea of

Abstract

The term daimon, an ancient philosophical and religious notion, has a broad spectrum. Generally speaking, it indicates a divine being, although not the Supreme Being, to which the function of a mediator is usually attributed. The philosophical fortune of the notion of daimon is mainly linked to the history of the Platonic tradition.

The revival of Plato’s and Neoplatonists’ codices, in fifteenth-century Italy, stimulated the spread of the demonologies that these texts described and commented on. In the framework of the Renaissance demonologies, Marsilio Ficino’s demonology is fundamental to understanding the resurgence of classical doctrines on the daemones, on the one hand, and the subsequent evolutions of the debate about them, on the other.

During the sixteenth century, the notion of daimon would undergo a process of cultural contamination. In many instances, within the general category of demons, it would be placed next to the Christian devil or to the spirits of the popular magical tradition. Gerolamo Cardano’s reflection represents a turning point in the process of transformation of the notion of daimon. When the Counter-Reformation was in full swing, the debate would become extremely heated. In such political and religious context, the very ambivalence of the term demon would prove particularly problematic.