Bücher von Pico Della Mirandola

»Phönix der Geister« nannten ihnen seine Zeitgenossen, von einem Mozart für Philosophen spricht einer seiner besten Kenner in der Gegenwart. Pico della Mirandola wurde in seinem kurzen Leben vor allem für eine Rede berühmt, die ihn der Papst nie halten ließ, die »Oratio de dignitate hominis«. Sie gilt als ein Glanzpunkt des Menschenverständnisses der Renaissance, das tief in der christlichen Tradition wurzelt. Pico interpretiert die Erschaffung zur Gottebenbildlichkeit als Auftrag, das Menschsein in freier Selbsttätigkeit als Angleichung an Gott zu gestalten. Seine Einsichten zu Menschenbild und idealer Lebensführung stützt er auf ein umfassend philosophisch-theologisches Programm, das nicht nur Christentum, antike Philosophie und Weisheitstraditionen, sondern auch Christentum und Judentum miteinander versöhnen will. [De Dignitate hominis]His contemporaries called him the »Phoenix of the wits«; one of his best contemporary connoisseurs speaks of a Mozart for philosophers. In his short life, Pico della Mirandola became famous above all for a speech that the Pope never let him deliver, the »Oratio de dignitate hominis.« It is considered a pinnacle of the Renaissance understanding of human beings, deeply rooted in the Christian tradition. Pico interprets the creation into the image of God as a mandate to shape the human condition in freedom as an assimilation to God. He bases his insights into the image of God and the ideal way of life on a comprehensive philosophical-theological program that seeks to reconcile not only Christianity and ancient philosophy and traditions of wisdom, but also Christianity and Judaism.

This is a new translation of and commentary on Pico della Mirandola's most famous work, the Oration on the Dignity of Man. It is the first English edition to provide readers with substantial notes on the text, essays that address the work's historical, philosophical and theological context, and a survey of its reception. Often called the 'Manifesto of the Renaissance', this brief but complex text was originally composed in 1486 as the inaugural speech for an assembly of intellectuals, which could have produced one of the most exhaustive metaphysical, theological and psychological debates in history, had Pope Innocent VIII not forbidden it. This edition of the Oration reflects the spirit of the original text in bringing together experts in different fields. Not unlike the debate Pico optimistically anticipated, the resulting work is superior to the sum of its parts.