Oration on the Dignity of Man: Analysis Essay

Thus, it was unsurprising to find that Pope Sixtus IV built a library that still remains as one of the richest repositories holding ancient, medieval documents. This movement of humanism was largely praise because the viewed humanity through a Christian lens as Renaissance humanists strongly believed that men and woman were made in the image and likeness of God. For example, Pico Mirandola represented man as one in possession of great dignity in his essay, ‘On the Dignity of Man’. Further, Renaissance humanism caused individuals to become increasingly self-conscious about their current lifestyles and their realization of human potential. Humanism heavily influenced much of the Renaissance culture, causing people to depend upon intellect its role in humanity breakthroughs.

Before the Renaissance, God was the measure of all things. People believed that everything in life was predestined, and that they could not be anything more than what they already were. During the Renaissance humanism became widespread, and the focus was no longer on God, but rather on man himself. There was a greater appreciation for man, and an emphasis on what humans think. Pico della Mirandola believed that people are able to be whatever they chose to be according to their own will and knowledge, he even believed that man could rise up and be as great as God. He says in Oration on the Dignity of Man, “To man it is to be whatever he choses to be!…he will be an angel and son of God…he removes himself to the center of his own unity, his spiritual soul, united with God…he will surpass every created thing.” (della Mirandola) In this time, man is of the utmost importance. In a sense, man is considered to be one of the most amazing creation that can essentially do anything with the proper knowledge and reason in order to make

This caused in him a feeling in which he had never felt before, and thus inspired him to new things to get himself more aquatinted with God:

David Swenson, who was born in Sweden and was a professor of University of Minnesota. He is well-known to the public for his publication of the article called “The Dignity of Human Life”, which was originally published in 1949 and currently still could be found in many philosophy books (Klemke, 2008). The article of “The dignity of Human life” contains several different valuable ideas of the subject to human life and also includes some great conclusions at the final.

Much of my understanding of the Renaissance throughout the readings thus far is that the movement has challenged the power of religion to a certain degree. Here with Pico's ideas, he essentially believes that God himself has granted every human being free-will, disregarding their societal class standing (which sounds like a radical idea in the eyes of Medieval nobility and religious

Pico della Mirandola was a philosopher of the Italian Renaissance from 1463 to 1494 , a time when the relationship between God and man was rapidly changing. Secular humanism, or " humanism viewed as a system of values and beliefs that are opposed to the values and beliefs of traditional religions," was taking shape in the minds of philosophers across Europe. It was during this time that Pico della Mirandola undertook the task of writing out 900 theses on different areas of study, from mathematics to philosophy, known today as the Oration on the Dignity of Man. The introduction to this work establishes Mirandola's belief that man is created with no limitations placed on him by God. Man is the maker of his own destiny and can shape his future however he chooses because of the gift of free will.

In his “Oration on the Dignity of Man”, Pico explained humanism , which is a set of principles, perspectives, and logical ideas about the world. Pico describes how humans are different from other creatures of this world. He finished his “Oration on the Dignity of Man” to accompany his 900 theses in which he provided us with the complete discovery of knowledge and structural pyramid for human creation called the chain of being. Pico explained that God had created all creatures, who would appreciate this world that he created.

In the “Oration on the Dignity of Man”, philosopher Pico Della Mirandola challenges the traditional views of humanity’s place in the universe. Unlike other creatures, he argues that mankind should be admired and praised because he was not set with fixed boundaries.

The Renaissance was an extremely influential time when it came down to the study of the human condition; moreover, these studies lead to understandings on the basic nature of human beings. Many well known authors and philosophers like Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Thomas More, and Niccolo Machiavelli all used their observations of the world to understand how humans function. These books were written by these philosophers to educate the masses on how events and characteristics shape human emotions, aspirations, turmoils, and human life. Overall, these three authors and philosophers’ had many different ideas on what roles humans were meant to play in the universe. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was an Italian Philosopher, that discussed his

Renaissance art and morality assumed that humans were strong and powerful. For example, in the picture of David by Michelangelo it exemplifies that humans are strong and powerful due to the idea of illustrating his mussels and the moral of the story, that a human can defeat a giant. The overall theme of the story illustrates the strength of man.

During the age of the Renaissance the spread of writing, art, and ideas flourished. The Renaissance was based off many ideas. However, the two most important ideals were the evolution of a new worldview and humanism. Italian artists used their skills in art to spread these ideas. They reflected all of the aspects of the Renaissance in their pieces and shared them with the world. While, Italian writers wrote works on these same ideas they urged their readers to take up their beliefs. Together Italian artists and writers sparked a revolutionary new age that discovered many concepts that we still use today.

Some have described this as his breaking from the “heroes” of his youth and becoming a philosopher of his own . This is emphasized by the subtitle “A Book for Free Spirits”, which he characterizes in Ecce Homo as “a spirit that has become free, that has again taken possession of itself”. It is also a radical departure from his previous essay style and is written in an aphoristic style, which will continue for his next five books. He later publishes two more parts, titled Assorted Opinions and Maxims and The Wanderer and His Shadow, which will be republished into a single volume. The title, Human, All Too Human, is a reference to the main argument unifying the book, that all that is believed to be “superhuman” (genius, Truth, etc.) is merely very human

We then discussed Pico’s views on man where he stated that there is “nothing more wonderful than man.” (On the Dignity of Man, 1) In class we discussed

According to Pico Della Mirandola, in the Oration on the Dignity of Mani, human beings are free to become anything they want. He explained the level that humans reside in using chains. Using the chains he placed the angels high up on the chain and the animals on the bottom. Humans are not on either ends of the chains. They are not up high in the chain like angels and they are not in the bottom of the chain like animals, but instead they are in the middle. Being in the middle of the chain they are the observer of the world. They watch over the world that god created. God put humans in the middle of the chain and giving them the freedom to choose what form they take and what they can become. They have the freedom to be reborn as the lowest which is animals or as the highest in the chain, angels. They can choose to degrade themselves or upgrade themselves. If they do bad things, greedy, and live selfishly than they will degrade themselves to animals and if they do good deeds than they will upgrade themselves to Angels, high up on the chain. Based on their “unique individual talents”(Western Civilization, brief 3rd edition, 296)ii, human will be reborn as animals or angels. The noblest goal of the freedom that human beings have is that they should aim to upgrade their rank closer to angels.

The early renaissance was a period of inventions, revolutions and daring ‘outside-the-box’ thinking. This period saw an evolution in the world of men, there was a change in how one perceived himself, which influenced ones ideology, resulting in one expanding his mind beyond the capabilities of what an average man during that particular period. This led to a period of fine, intricate and astoundingly produced works, which are now renowned in history. Therefore, the early renaissance era, is in my view possibly one of the most significant and important era, in term of the advancement of how we as individuals perceived ourselves, and how we can influence and play a part in our society and make a meaningful contribution. That is the reason why I chose this topic, it has always been a period that fascinate me. My curiosity for this era lies within finding out what influenced the likes of Brunelleschi, Leonardo and Michelangelo among other to produce these wonderful pieces of works, that has not only withstood the sands of time to become iconic, but also become a source of inspiration, even to this day.