La tempesta del pensiero: Omaggio a James Hillman = The tempest of thought. A tribute to James Hillman

This paper is a tribute to James Hillman, a few hours after his death (October 27th, 2011). Within this monographic issue of "Engramma", dedicated to the anniversary of the first staging of The Tempest by William Shakespeare (November 1st, 1611), the essay draws inspiration from two passages in which the 'tempestuous' and subversive thought of the great american philosopher and psychologist is touched by Shakespeare's play. The first passage, from The Soul's Code, in which Caliban is identified as the 'bad seed', is an opportunity to talk about Hillman' daimon, of the originality of his thought compared to that of his predecessor and teacher Carl Gustav Jung, and compared with epochal changes from the second half of the 20th century to today. The second passage, from the conference In Praise of Babel held at the University of Siena in 1999, in which the character of Caliban represents the island of Prospero in its manifold variety, is an opportunity to reflect on the value of the concept of polytheism and plurality introduced by Hillman's theorization, compared with the monotheistic idea of universality consolidated (though now in crisis) in western culture.