"In ragione di medicina". Paolo Sarpi, Montaigne e il libertinismo italiano

This papers exam-ines the Pensieri of Paolo Sarpi where the autor uses the language of medicine extending it to different areas of human knowledge, above all to morality and politics. The purpose of man must be to maintain his physical and moral balance. On this issue Sarpi seems to follow Montaigne, one of his most important sources. More generally, Sarpi seems to re-propose some typical ideas of libertinism, especially when he speaks of a religion which is the creation of man and which must be subjected to the rules of politics and the will of the legislators.