Philosophy of the Renaissance

The Neoplatonic Period in Renaissance Philosophy

Humanism, to a significant extent, aligned itself with Platonism, which allowed for a critique of Aristotle, the cornerstone of medieval scholasticism, particularly Thomism. Renaissance Platonism presented Plato in a Christianized form, and in 1459, the Platonic Academy was even founded in Florence, where Plato was regarded as "a god among philosophers."

One of the eminent philosophers of the Neoplatonic tradition was Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494). A handsome aristocrat, he astonished his contemporaries with an early display of talent, vast learning, and a romantic life, which ended mysteriously with his untimely death. At the age of 23, Pico published 900 theses, which he intended to defend in a disputation in Rome, inviting scholars from all over Europe. In these theses, he eclectically combined everything he knew, seeking to take all rational ideas from every source, including Plato. His worldview leaned towards pantheism, presenting a hierarchized creation: the angelic, celestial, and elemental spheres, with God as the ultimate essence of the world. For the understanding of reality, Pico advocated the use of all available means—magic, Kabbalah, theology, and the teachings of both Aristotle and Plato. His famous "Oration on the Dignity of Man" can be seen as a prelude to his celebrated theses, where he proclaims, "Who will not marvel at man!" He justifies this by noting that all creatures are destined to be what they are, but man alone, positioned at the boundary of two worlds, has no predetermined nature. Instead, man is created with the freedom to shape his own being according to his chosen form. Thus, man may ascend through pure reason and become an angel, or even higher. The greatness of man, therefore, lies in his art of self-creation.

The turn towards Platonism is also associated with Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499), renowned for his translations of Plato and Plotinus and his philosophical inquiries into the soul as a world-link and the reinterpretation of "Platonic love" in a Christian sense. Ficino's metaphysical ideas about reality are deeply rooted in Neoplatonism, describing a descending order of perfection: at the highest level is God, followed by angels, the soul, quality (form), and matter. The soul, a marvel of nature, occupies a central position, connecting the earthly and the heavenly, and is immortal within the mortal.

However, the most profound thinker of the Neoplatonic orientation was Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464). A remarkably gifted and energetic priest, he became a cardinal in 1448. His numerous works include On Learned Ignorance, The Layman, and On the Assumption, among others.

Nicholas of Cusa is a philosophically complex figure. On the one hand, he was rooted in the medieval philosophical tradition, though significantly influenced by pantheistic ideas, and on the other, his views were shaped by mystical writings and the broader humanistic currents of his time. He was also deeply interested in mathematics and other sciences.

The significance of Nicholas of Cusa's philosophical activity lies in his transition of medieval philosophical traditions to address the problems of the humanist era. The central issue in his philosophy is the relationship between God and the world. However, this "theocentrism" markedly differs from medieval theology. Cusa argued that the fullness of knowledge of God cannot be achieved through the formal logic of scholasticism and thus one must begin from the principle of "ignorance," acknowledging the incommensurability of the object of knowledge with the concepts and definitions applied to it. The only possible way to know God is through what is known as apophatic or negative theology, since no collection of God's attributes can exhaust the infinite majesty of the divine nature. Nicholas conceived of God as the infinite One and at the same time the hidden essence of all things—a decidedly Neoplatonic idea. He framed the problem of God not as a theological question, but as a purely philosophical one, particularly as a matter of epistemology, outlining stages of knowledge: a) sensory perception; b) reason, which can discern contradictions; c) intellect, capable of reconciling those contradictions; and d) intuition, which allows for the observation of the coincidence of opposites in the infinite unity of the maximum. This intuition, he called "learned ignorance."

Thus, the problem is resolved dialectically, as a transition from the One to the many, from the infinite to the finite. Cusa's idea of the coincidence of opposites extends into his cosmology and his understanding of human nature. Man contains within himself divine perfection (the maximum), but only as it exists within humanity as a whole, while the individual man contains the minimum.

Nicholas placed faith above reason, though he understood faith in a philosophical rather than theological sense. He agreed with the assertion that all understanding begins with faith, but not with blind faith devoid of reason. "Faith in its condensed form contains all that is grasped by reason; knowledge is the unfolding of faith; faith governs reason, reason extends faith," Nicholas of Cusa wrote. This Renaissance philosopher greatly influenced the subsequent development of philosophy. His dialectical method was embraced by Giordano Bruno and Jakob Böhme, and it entered German philosophy of the 18th and 19th centuries. Spinoza derived from his pantheism, and Descartes developed his cosmological ideas.