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Pico Della Mirandola Research Paper

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Pico della Mirandola was a philosopher of the Italian Renaissance , 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. …show more content…

Mirandola states that, because man was created after the completion of the universe¬–the "highest, the middle, and the lowest orders" –he did not fit with any of these orders and instead fell somewhere in the middle. This idea that man was created outside the bounds of every other creature, and therefore was innately different from conception is integral to Mirandola's argument. If man was created to be intrinsically special from the rest of creation, then the gift of free will is that which makes man

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