Wednesday Wisdom

Who?

Marsilio Ficino was a trained physician who became a Catholic priest and Italian scholar in the mid-14th century. He was an influencer of the Renaissance, which is a period in western Europe that saw a revival of classic Greek and Roman Humanities philosophy. This was a break from the middle ages dominated by the Catholic church and a feudal system. In this system, where peasants or serfs worked the land for a governing family in exchange for food, shelter, and protection.

What?

Ficino is credited with translating all of Plato's works from ancient Greek to Latin, which was the written word across Europe. His mentor Cosimo de Medici, had re-introduced the Plato Academy in Florence and had supplied Ficino with the works of Plato. Embracing the works of Plato, Ficino also produced the works of Neoplatonists, who had revived Plato's teaching 600 years after Plato in 245AD. From his understanding of Plato's work, he coined the phrase "Platonic Love", where one could love another for their virtues. In his letters, he highlighted the works of antiquity writing" This century, like a golden age, has restored to light the liberal arts, which were almost extinct: grammar, poetry, rhetoric, painting, sculpture, architecture, music..." Ironically, Plato's student Aristotle was published 200 years earlier but was mostly censored by the Catholic church. Aristotle's writings on physical life as opposed to the afterlife and his notions of discounting a personal God and creation were deemed heretical at the time. But why were both philosophers not published and studied during the same time period of the Renaissance? The governing powers of Europe were undoubtedly not acute to any pagan philosophies or any ideas that countered church teachings during the "Dark Ages" (500-1500 AD). Ideals of democracy, free will, and individualism were frowned upon while serving God, church and your sovereign were promoted.

So how did Aristotle jump the historical line in front of his mentor Plato? Aristotle had a pupil of either Greek or Macedonian birth. This student became known as Alexander the Great, Ruler of Macedonia. He expanded his father Phillip's empire in 336 BC across the middle east as far as Pakistan and Egypt. Alexander brought the teachings of ethics, logic, and economics to the lands that he conquered. These teachings were translated from ancient Greek to Arabic well before western Europe embraced these philosophies. Aristotle's teaching was revered by Islamic and Jewish scholars and priests and passed down through the ages. While few could read ancient Greek by the 12th century, the Arabic texts from Judeo-Arabic philosophers passed on from generations since Alexander the Great were more accessible and easier to translate.

Why should you care?

The Greeks invented philosophy, which literally means “love of wisdom". The big three philosophers of ancient Greece each stood on their predecessor's shoulders and they all have an outsized influence over logic, ethics, economics, government, and art to this day. From Socrates, who was not a prolific writer, we get the teaching and learning method (Socratic Method) where questions are used to explore, share and debate ideas. "The Republic" is Plato's great work in which justice, virtue, and happiness are portrayed in the relationship between a government and the people. He founded the "Academy ", a learning school to promote a moral philosophy on the doctrine of ideas. The term "philosopher king" was conceived as an ideal of education and intelligence as a virtue. Aristotle, who was a polymath, is the father of many studies including metaphysics, zoology, biology, and economics. He developed a system and rules-based logical approach called "syllogism", which would define premises that could add up to a conclusion. This he believed could be applied across any discipline of learning including introducing "metaphysics" to study the nature of things.

And now you know;

Philosophy is the art of thinking, the building block of progress that shapes critical thinking across economics, ethics, religion, and science.