Tecnologia, natura, etica. Il vetro e le pietre trasparenti nell’enciclopedia pliniana

Abstract

The paper engages with the narrative strategies and concepts that guide Pliny the Elder’s account of the natural world by exploring a small set of passages from the encyclopedia’s Book 36. This book’s final paragraphs summarize three key points developed in the treatise: the role of human ingenuity, the ability of senses to classify the natural world, and the relationship between human morals and natural norms. These points are exemplified by glass, transparent stones (lapis specularis and phengites), and obsidian. Although apparently anecdotal, these passages are key both in constructing a narrative progression towards the treatise’s final book and to Pliny’s discourse about the relationship between natural materials and human ingenuity. While highlighting Pliny’s organizing principles, the paper addresses the Naturalis Historia’s philosophical premises, historical perspective, and epistemological fabric.