Analysis Of Giovanni Pico's Oration On The Dignity Of Man

The Oration of the Renaissance

When Russell Kirk stated: "man was only a little lower than the angels, a being capable of descending to unclean depths, indeed, but also having it within this power to become godlike" (xii), he identified the key argument of the Renaissance, which would be encompassed in Giovanni Pico 's Oration on the Dignity of Man. The new, or rediscovered, ideas of the Renaissance are exhibited throughout Pico 's oration, and include: humanism, neoplatonism, and hereticism, which all struggle to blend with the traditional Christian thought at the time. The oration has been called the "manifesto of the Renaissance", because it accurately identifies the Renaissance ideas which were growing more popular at the time, and it

The reason for Pico 's cherishing of humanity, is because he also cherishes god. It is because of god, that mankind is good, of capable of doing good things. It is because of god 's gift of freewill, that mankind has the capability of moving up and down the Chain of Being, and ascend into heaven. The fact that man was made in the image of god, who is seen as perfect, itself attests to humanities ' good nature, rather than born in sin. Pico 's belief in god 's all-knowing nature, also helps him reason that even the ancients were good, even if they are in hell for the lack of Christ. To put it simple, humanity should be cherished, because humanity was cherished by

Giovanni Pico was a writer of the Italian Renaissance period, and his Oration of the Dignity of Man has been called the "manifesto of the Renaissance" for good reason. The ideas in his oration include humanism, neoplatonic thought, and hereticism, and each of these ideas proved to be influential to the Renaissance thinkers of the time. Humanism was the belief that humanity was good, which overall contrasted with the traditional medieval idea of humanity being naturally sinful, but the proof of this idea was that mankind was given the gifts of god 's image, and his free will. The idea of neoplatonism was that there was a physical and metaphysical reality, which was first developed by Plato, but later Christians reasoned that the physical realm was Earth and the metaphysical was Heaven, because it was in heaven that the truth was. Hereticism was the belief of a common theology, or philosophy, between all the cultures and religions. This idea as accepted by some Renaissance thinkers, who reasoned that god created everything, including the other cultures and religions, so that they must have a purpose, possibly to reveal truth that was hidden in their writings. Pico develops these ideas in his oration, and it helps him come to the conclusion to cherish humanity, because he cherished god, humanities creator. Pico 's thoughts, and oration, were a definite