Wednesday Wisdom

Who?

Marsilio Ficino was a trained physician who became a Catholic priest and Italian scholar in the mid-14th century. He was a major influence 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 and Arabic 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.

In 1453, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire marking the end of the Byzantine empire. This was essentially the end of the Roman Empire in the east which had flourished as a center for Greek, Roman and Christian traditions.

Why should you care?

The fall of Constantinople produced a wave of priests and scholars fleeing to the city-states and kingdoms in what now is called Italy. They brought with them the ancient manuscripts of Rome and Greece, which were largely ignored during the dark ages in western Europe.

Cosimo De Medici and his family were patrons of the arts, culture and learning and were major factors in leading the Renaissance in Florence. He hired the young scholar to translate these works from Arabic and ancient Greek into Latin. He set out to translating Plato’s Dialogues until one day Medici told him to stop and translate a text from an ancient Grecco-Egyptian priest and scholar. Ficino left a note “Mercurian Termaximum, Primo” or translate this first.

Given the importance and reverence of Plato, why would this ancient text known as Corpus Hermeticum from person only known from legend, take precedence. Cosimo was quite old and was anxious to learn the possible secrets of the universe from this legendary text. Moses was revered by scholars as having delivered the laws of God while Plato was known to have codified the laws of man. Was this ancient text the bridge between the divine and man?

More to follow………………in part 2

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