Writing against the Gnostics. World Soul, Universal Animation and Natural Production in Giordano Bruno’s Reading of Plotinus (De la causa II)

Plotinus’ importance in Giordano Bruno’s thought has generally been acknowledged by scholars – reflected in the classical studies of Tocco and Guzzo, and in more recent times, of Spruit and Catana. Less attention has been devoted to Plotinus’ influence on Bruno with regard to specific aspects of his philosophy and in particular, concerning Bruno’s conception of the world soul. This paper aims to analyze the passages of the second dialogue of De la causa, principio et uno in which Bruno – referring to what «Plotinus writes against the Gnostics» – almost literally quotes treatises III 8 and II 9 (but also III 2 and V 8) of Enneades, read in Ficino’s translation and commentaries, and uses them as a starting point for his definition of the «universal intellect» and of his own theory of universal animation and natural production, conceived as the effects of the world soul’s spontaneous activity in nature.