«FALSEHOODS, NEVER. THE TRUTH, NOT TO EVERYONE ». PHILOSOPHY, DISSIMULATION, AND ATHEISM IN PAOLO SARPI’S CORRESPONDENCE AND PENSIERI

This article intends to analyse the position of Paolo Sarpi with reference to the religious problem, in the light of his philosophical principles, and focusing in particular on the socalled Pensieri. First, the article highlights the difficulty of defining the category of early modern atheism, emphasizing the need to consider the question of dissimulation in the philosophers of this age. This theme is of fundamental importance to understand the thought of the Venetian Servite friar, since he often uses dissimulation strategies, as it emerges from the analysis of his correspondence. Sarpi’s dissimulation had as a consequence that the most disparate religious positions – ranging from Catholic irenicism to atheism, passing through various reformed confessions – were attributed to him. However, a deeper analysis of his correspondence and of his Pensieri shows that Sarpi’s thought escapes any rigid labelling. This, in turn, entails that some interpreters have correctly insisted on his skeptical philosophical views. However, in his Pensieri and especially in his Pensieri sulla religione, Sarpi makes some caustic considerations, not only with respect to every religion and worship, but that undermine the very idea of God. This does not mean that Sarpi intended to constitute a community of atheists, but these reflections represent a fundamental test to place his figure in the history of early modern atheism.