Published 2025-12-31
Keywords
- quackery,
- pedantry,
- imposture,
- sectarianism,
- style
How to Cite
Copyright (c) 2025 Danilo Bilate
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
The Mencke discourses published in 1715 under the title “De Charlataneria Eruditorum” are successful in the academic world and the adjective ‘charlatan’ passes to be used more and more by scholars. Despite notable nuances, the charlatan is considered, in general, as one that, by obscurity or stylistic prolixity (ciarlare), cannot communicate with his colleagues. It is a question here of looking for the mutations of the meaning of the term ‘charlatan’ and its variations in the 18th century, to sketch the possibilities of understanding, by contrast, the identity of the philosopher.