Ideals of Humanism

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Along with a return to the classics, humanism emphasized the potential of the individual and every human’s ability to strive for perfection. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, a humanist and Neoplatonist of the Italian Renaissance, discusses the perfectibility and potential of humans in the Oration On the Dignity of Man. In his oration, Pico della Mirandola creates a message sent from God to humans upon their creation. As God speaks to his creation he says, “to you is granted the power, contained in your intellect and judgment, to be reborn into the higher forms, the divine” (Pico della Mirandola). In this comparison, Pico della Mirandola suggests that humans have the ability to become divine. In other words, humans can strive for and achieve perfection. His oration is filled with similar declarations that “deal with the vocation of the human creature, who possessing no determinate image, is urged to pursue its own perfection” (Dougherty 586). Mirandola clearly states that humans are endowed by their creator with the potential to be perfect, which is a characterizing ideal of humanism. He calls all people to utilize the potential they are given as he implores, “let a holy ambition enter into our souls; let us not be content with mediocrity, but rather strive after the highest and expend all our strength in achieving it” (Pico della Mirandola). Through this statement, Pico della Mirandola spreads the humanistic ideal of perfectibility to his fellow philosophers and all other people; therefore, he is responsible for popularizing and establishing the humanistic ideal that all humans have the potential to strive for, and achieve, perfection. The humanist ideals developed by Petrarch and Pico della Mirandola are reproduced in the p... ... middle of paper ... ...at teach students about rhetoric and how to speak and write eloquently. These courses also include classical works as an essential part of their curriculum; students study ancient Greek and Roman mythology and dissect their ideas, themes, and structures. People strive to reach perfection in their school work, jobs, sports, and relationships. Aspects of humanism are woven into today’s society, as well as the society of the past. Humanism turned the population’s method of thinking and outlook on life on its head during the renaissance. Throughout the renaissance, humanists preached of the perfectibility and infinite potential of humanisms, and revived classical works and figures. These characterizing ideals of humanism can be found in the letters of Petrarch and orations of Pico della Mirandola, and they are reproduced in the poems and plays of Shakespeare.

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