Pico della Mirandola: New Essays

This volume provides a comprehensive presentation of the philosophical work of the fifteenth-century Renaissance thinker Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. In essays specially commissioned for this book, a distinguished group of scholars presents the central topics and texts of Pico\'s literary output. Best known as the author of the celebrated \'Oration on the Dignity of Man\', Pico also wrote several other prominent works. They include an influential diatribe against astrology, an ambitious metaphysical treatise attempting to reconcile Platonic and Aristotelian metaphysical views, and writings on a range of subjects such as magic, Kabbalah, the Church, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of knowledge. The first volume of its kind in English, this collection of essays will be of value not only to advanced students and specialists of late medieval and Renaissance thought, but also to those interested in Italian humanism and Renaissance Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism.

• Essays in this volume treat several of Pico’s works not presently available in English translation • Unveils the vastness of the subject matter of Pico’s literary corpus • Essays engage critically the vast body of scholarly literature on Pico

1. Introduction M. V. Dougherty; 2. Pico on the relationship of rhetoric and philosophy Jill Kraye; 3. Pico, theology, and the church Paul Richard Blum; 4. Pico della Mirandola’s philosophy of religion Michael Sudduth; 5. The birth day of Venus: Pico as platonic exegete in the Commento and the Heptaplus Michael J. B. Allen; 6. Three precursors to Pico della Mirandola’s Roman disputation and the question of human nature in the Oratio M. V. Dougherty; 7. Pico on magic and astrology Sheila J. Rabin; 8. Pico’s quest for all knowledge Carl N. Still; 9. A philosophical life Francesco Borghesi.