Philosophy in the Renaissance: An Anthology

✍ Scribed by Paul Richard Blum (editor)

• Publisher: The Catholic University of America Press
• Year: 2023
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 395
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The Renaissance was a period of great intellectual change and innovation as philosophers rediscovered the philosophy of classical antiquity and passed it on to the modern age. Renaissance philosophy is distinct both from the medieval scholasticism, based on revelation and authority, and from philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries who transformed it into new philosophical systems. Despite the importance of the Renaissance to the development of philosophy over time, it has remained largely understudied by historians of philosophy and professional philosophers. This anthology aims to correct this by providing scholars and students of philosophy with representative translations of the most important philosophers of the Renaissance. Its purpose is to help readers appreciate philosophy in the Renaissance and its importance in the history of philosophy. The anthology includes translations from philosophers from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries, and it ranges from works on moral and political philosophy, to metaphysics, epistemology, and natural philosophy, thereby providing historians and students of philosophy with a sense for the nature, breadth, and complexity of philosophy in the Renaissance. Each translation is accompanied by an introduction by a historian of Renaissance philosophy, as well as select secondary sources, in order to encourage further study. This anthology is a companion to Philosophers of the Renaissance, edited by Paul Richard Blum and published by Catholic University of America Press in 2010, which included essays on the writings of the same group of philosophers of the Renaissance: Raymond Llull, Gemistos Plethon, George of Trebizond, Basil Bessarion, Lorenzo Valla, Nicholas of Cusa, Leon Battista Alberti, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino, Pietro Pomponazzi, Niccolò Machiavelli, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, Juan Luis Vives, Philipp Melanchthon, Petrus Ramus, Bernardino Telesio, Jacopo Zabarella, Michel de Montaigne, Francesco Patrizi, Giordano Bruno, Francisco Suàrez, Tommaso Campanella.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction | Paul Richard Blum and James G. Snyder
1. Ramón Llull (1232–1316): Felix, or the Book of Wonders | Edited by Paul Richard Blum
2. George Gemistos Pletho (c. 1360–1454): Commentary on Chaldaean Oracles | Edited by Jozef Matula
3. George of Trebizond (1396–1474/75): Comparison of Plato and Aristotle: God as the Absolutely First | Edited by John Monfasani
4. Basil Bessarion (c. 1403–1472): Against the Calumniator of Plato | Edited by Eva Del Soldato
5. Lorenzo Valla (1406/7–1457): Encomium of St. Thomas Aquinas | Edited by Paul Richard Blum
6. Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464): Compendium | Edited by Detlef Thiel
7. Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472): Theogenius | Edited by Timothy Kircher
8. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494): Spiritual Writings | Edited by Victor M. Salas
9. Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499): Letters | Edited by James G. Snyder
10. Pietro Pomponazzi (1462–1525): Exposition of Aristotle’s First Book On the Parts of Animals | Edited by Tomáš Nejeschleba
11. Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527: Discursus on Florentine Matters after the Death of Lorenzo de’ Medici the Younger | Edited by Mark Jurdjevic
12. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486–1535): The Vanity of Arts and Sciences | Edited by Paul Richard Blum
13. Juan Luis Vives (1493–1540): Introduction to Wisdom | Edited by Paul Richard Blum
14. Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560): Of Rational Ability, or Mind | Edited by Günter Frank and Gregory Graybill
15. Petrus Ramus (1515–1572): Dialectic | Edited by Robert Goulding
16. Bernardino Telesio (1509–1588): On Mind and Wisdom | Edited by Paul Richard Blum
17. Jacopo Zabarella (1533–1589): On the Constitution of Natural Science | Edited by Per Landgren
18. Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592): Of Experience | Edited by Paul Richard Blum
19. Francesco Patrizi (1529–1597): On History | Edited by Paul Richard Blum
20. Giordano Bruno (1548–1600): On the Infinite, Universe and Worlds | Edited by Paul Richard Blum
21. Francisco Suárez (1548–1617): On Free-Will | Edited by Sydney Penner
22. Tommaso Campanella (1568–1639): Soul, Intellect, and Body | Edited by Elisabeth Blum
List of Contributors
Index