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Giovanni Pico della MirandolaA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“Most esteemed Fathers, I have read in the ancient writings of the Arabians that Abdala the Saracen on being asked what, on this stage, so to say, of the world, seemed to him most evocative of wonder, replied that there was nothing to be seen more marvelous than man.”
Here, Pico introduces the topic of man. He describes man as the most fortunate creature for having freedom. This viewpoint of man as having freedom distinguishes Pico from other philosophers.
“If vegetative, he will become a plant; if sensual, he will become brutish; if rational, he will reveal himself a heavenly being.”
A man can rise or fall, through his actions. Man has freedom, and through this freedom he can become different. Pico encourages man to rational activity, instead of acting in the manner of lower forms.
“For it is not the bark that makes the tree, but its insensitive and unresponsive nature; nor the hide which makes the beast of burden, but its brute and sensual soul; nor the orbicular form which makes the heavens, but their harmonious order.”
Here, Pico describes how people become like their actions. A man who acts like a plant becomes a plant, not in having bark but in lying still. The heavenly bodies act in a more rational way.
“If, finally, a pure contemplator, unmindful of the body, wholly withdrawn into the inner chambers of the mind, here indeed is neither a creature of earth nor a heavenly creature, but some higher divinity, clothed in human flesh.”
According to Pico, man can achieve his highest level by pure contemplation. This enables him to escape the problems of earth. Pico himself spent years studying instead of pursuing money.
“But what is the purpose of all this? That we may understand—since we have been born into this condition of being what we choose to be—that we ought to be sure above all else that it may never be said against us that, born to a high position, we failed to appreciate it, but fell instead to the estate of brutes and uncomprehending beasts of burden.”
A man can rise or fall according to his actions. Pico warns that people should retain their mental alertness. Numerous other people act in ways that he considers lower and dirtier. Instead, he advocates for moral thought, as he has devoted himself to do. Through such moral thoughts, man can rise instead of falling.
“Let us ask the Apostle Paul, that vessel of election, in what activity he saw the armies of the Cherubim engaged when he was rapt into the third heaven. He will answer, according to the interpretation of Dionysius, that he saw them first being purified, then illuminated, and finally made perfect.”
Cleanliness has often been described as a precondition for religious accomplishment. Pico describes how different religions, starting with Christianity, require cleanliness. Other religions have comparable traditions. Regardless of the particular religion, Pico describes the steps for cleaning oneself and then studying philosophy and theology.
“For it is a patent thing, O Fathers, that many forces strive within us, in grave, intestine warfare, worse than the civil wars of states.”
Here, Pico describes how people have internal conflicts. A man can act towards higher or lower levels. Peace raises him to higher levels. Conflict reduces him to lower levels. Pico often describes low levels of being as dirty.
“If, acting on wiser counsel, we should seek to secure an unbroken peace, moral philosophy will still be at hand to fulfill our desires abundantly; and having slain either beast, like sacrificed sows, it will establish an inviolable compact of peace between the flesh and the spirit. Dialectic will compose the disorders of reason torn by anxiety and uncertainty amid the conflicting hordes of words and captious reasonings.”
Man can resolve conflicts; he can emotion and reason. Moral philosophy provides a way for man to attain peace. By eliminating his passions, and bringing his reason under control, man can become a more peaceful, higher being. Instead of inner strife, man can have calmly-reasoned thoughts, and limited emotions.
“If, by moral philosophy, the power of our passions shall have been restrained by proper controls so that they achieve harmonious accord; and if, by dialectic, our reason shall have progressed by an ordered advance, then, smitten by the frenzy of the Muses, we shall hear the heavenly harmony with the inward ears of the spirit.”
Pico argues that philosophy and theology are the way. He writes that man should control his emotions and thoughts in order to achieve religious accomplishment. Only through these deeds can man achieve deeper peace.
“The deadly and monstrous persuasion has invaded practically all minds, that philosophy ought not to be studied at all or by very few people.”
Many critics complain that philosophy does not make profit. Pico argues that philosophy should not make profit. Any person who pursues philosophy for profit would be self-defeating, he argues. He defends himself in the Oration against a variety of critics. His new philosophy runs counter to some of the people and ideas of his time.
“Philosophy has taught me to rely on my own convictions rather than on the judgements of others and to concern myself less with whether I am well thought of than whether what I do or say is evil.”
Pico describes his studies of philosophy. Numerous people have criticized him, as they criticize other people who strive for good. However, Pico prefers to have his own way instead of to worry about the opinions of others. He presents his own philosophy, whereas his contemporaries often only made slight adjustments to previous philosophies. For Pico, only the distinction between good and evil defines his interests.
“But this has always been the case: works which are well-intentioned and sincerely directed to virtue have always had no fewer—not to say more—detractors than those undertaken for questionable motives and for devious ends.”
Here, Pico addresses criticisms of his disputations. He describes himself as an honest victim. In general, he sees himself as one of the few honest philosophers among numerous dishonest men. According to Pico, pure thought can lift one higher, while less virtuous people fall lower.
“Others do not disapprove this type of exercise, but resent the fact that at my age, a mere twenty-four years, I have dared to propose a disputation concerning the most subtle mysteries of Christian theology, the most debated points of philosophy and unfamiliar branches of learning; and that I have done so here, in this most renowned of cities, before a large assembly of very learned men, in the presence of the Apostolic Senate.”
Here, Pico defends himself for making such large claims at his young age. He argues that he should be judged on merit, not age. He aimed to address 900 theses he put forth, although the pope canceled the disputations to make sure his writings did contain heresy. At the time, some learning was limited, and generally only older people could read and understand certain texts. Pico presents an extremely large set of ideas on topics important to his grand audience.
“Still others have ceded my right so to dispute, but have not conceded that I might dispute nine hundred theses, asserting that such a project is superfluous, over-ambitious and beyond my powers.”
Pico had a large number of ideas to present. He notes that he could have divided them into even more points, and that a larger argument could have better results whether he succeeds or fails. He divided his ideas into physics, metaphysics, and other groupings. His extremely general disputations also discuss magic, poetry, and numbers.
“By contrast, I have so trained myself that, committed to the teachings of no one man, I have ranged through all the masters of philosophy, examined all their works, become acquainted with all schools.”
Pico claims that he has to have a large number of theses to address his points. Most philosophers study from only one teacher or school, but he has studied from numerous. He incorporates ideas from Christian, Hebrew, Greek, Chaldean, Islamic, and other sources. The diversity of his reading makes Pico capable of discussing so many topics. Additionally, he can offer viewpoints that his contemporaries could not.
“It should be added that any school which attacks the more established truths and by clever slander ridicules the valid arguments of reason confirms, rather than weakens, the truth itself, which, like embers, is fanned to life, rather than extinguished by stirring.”
By studying numerous schools, Pico has more viewpoints from which to see the weaknesses of some schools of thought. Here, he defends his broad approach. Pico sees a basic truth connecting disparate philosophies. He accuses other philosophers of exaggerating their own importance.
“The farmer hates sterility in his field and the husband deplores it in his wife; even more then must the divine mind hate the sterile mind with which it is joined and associated.”
Earlier civilizations had developed philosophy. Later civilizations incorporated the earlier philosophies, rather than producing new ones. Pico notes that this “sterility” would lower rather than raise standards. Instead of merely commenting on previous philosophies, as many of his peers did, he produces a new philosophy.
“They ought rather to praise this new philosophy, if it is well defended, or reject it, if it is refuted. Finally, since it will be their task to judge my discoveries and my scholarship, they ought to look to the merit or demerit of these and not to the age of their author.”
Pico presents a philosophy that he claims will replace previous teachings. He asks that his philosophy be judged on merit, not on his age. At the time, he was still in his early twenties. He argues that his job is to present the new philosophy, and the job of his audience is to judge it. In this way, he decouples age and ability.
“Asking why man is the wisest of animals, [Plato] replies, because he knows how to count.”
Pico claims that numbers are among the most important entities. He says that the study of numbers had fallen out of custom. Other early philosophers agreed that numbers represented the most important part of thought.
“The former is vain and disappointing; the latter, firm, solid and satisfying. The practitioner of the first always tries to conceal his addiction, because it always rebounds to shame and reproach, while the cultivation of the second, both in antiquity and at almost all periods, has been the source of the highest renown and glory in the field of learning.”
Pico contrasts dark magic against light magic. He considers the former harmful and the latter beneficial. Some contemporaries distrusted magic entirely. According to him, good magic was equivalent to religion. Either could elevate humankind.
“But enough about magic. I have been led to say even this much because I know that there are many persons who condemn and hate it, because they do not understand it, just as dogs always bay at strangers.”
Here, Pico notes that magic was controversial. He carries on with other sources. For him, good magic was equivalent to other methods of reason. For those who automatically condemn it, Pico compares them to a lower form of life: an animal.
“Of Pythagoras, however, Iamblichus the Chaldean writes that he took the Orphic theology as the model on which he shaped and formed his own philosophy.”
Pico claims that Pythagoras borrowed his ideas from the poetry of Orpheus. Poetry, along with numbers and magic, can provide viewpoints about philosophy and religion. Different thinkers had their own ways of describing shared ideas.
“Orpheus, however (and this was the case with all the ancient theologians) so wove the mysteries of his doctrines into the fabric of myths and so wrapped them about in veils of poetry, that one reading his hymns might well believe that there was nothing in them but fables and the veriest commonplaces. I have said this so that it might be known what labor was mine, what difficulty was involved, in drawing out the secret meanings of the occult philosophy from the deliberate tangles of riddles and the recesses of fable in which they were hidden.”
Here, Pico describes searching for secret truths. He sees numerous messages hidden in texts. Previous poets and other thinkers had often expressed ideas metaphorically.
“I have wanted to make clear in disputation, not only that I know a great many things, but also that I know a great many things which others do not know.”
Critics had accused Pico of inflating the number of points. He argues that he indeed had to present this many points. He also considers himself to have far more knowledge than his contemporaries.
“And now, reverend Fathers, in order that this claim may be vindicated by the fact, and in order that my address may no longer delay the satisfaction of your desire—for I see, reverend doctors, with the greatest pleasure that you are girded and ready for the contest—let us now, with the prayer that the outcome may be fortunate and favorable, as to the sound of trumpets, join battle.”
Pico announces the end of his oration, and the beginning of the philosophical battle. Here he would have disputed his 900 theses; however, the pope did not allow this. Instead, the oration was searched for heresy.