From Action as Correspondence with the Times to Action as Changing the Times

Abstract

The text of the Ghiribizzi is aporetic, if not antinomical. It appears to argue for a pessimistic concept of fate in which fortuna “commands men and keeps them under her yoke;” in which the path provided by classical thought to escape from this yoke, namely, astrological wisdom or the belief that intellect (nous) is stronger than necessity (ananke),is systematically barred. On the other hand, the text contains passages (like the last analysis of Hannibal and Scipio and the glosses) that give a different picture of the possibilities of human action by arguing that the encounter (riscontro) between human modes of action and circumstances has a conflictual meaning that favors innovation and discontinuity rather than adequation (in the sense of an harmonious fitting of action with the demands of the situation at hand).