This is a great selection of shorter works by some of the major Renaissance philosophers and humanists. There is both an excellent general introduction by Kristeller and Randall as well as introductions to the different authors and their works by the translators or by the editors. Petrarca's On His Own Ignorance and That of Many Others is a fascinating and entertaining piece of invective where he gives a broadside to the four Venetian Averroists that had slandered him. His Ascent of Mont Ventoux is also included along with some excerpts from letters which gives a broader context to the first two works. While all the different introductions are both interesting and useful, I very much appreciated Charles Trinkaus' very sober introduction to his own translation of Valla's Dialogue on Free Will. Turning to the Platonists, both Ficino's Five Questions Concerning the Mind and Pico's Oration on the Dignity of Man are fantastic reading. And as for Pico's "manifesto", it was a joy to finally get to read it after having seen it referenced so often; it's truly remarkable that it should have been written at such a young age. The erudite Pomponazzi represents the Aristotelians and does so with flair in his On the Immortality of the Soul – I guess that to fully appreciate all of it you really need to know your Aristotle from your Averroes, along with your Thomas and your Alexander, and indeed your Plato well (or actually take the time to look up all the references, which would perhaps take up half a lifetime of study) but trudging through the first part was well rewarded – his writing gets less convoluted further on in this treatise. The last work in this book, A Fable About Man by the Spaniard Vives, is an enjoyable read which shows the influence of humanist thought outside Italy. The selections in this volume serves both to bring together and to contrast the three major currents of this time period: classical humanism, Platonism and Aristotelianism. Whether your main interest is literature or philosophy, there surely is no better way to get well acquainted with early Renaissance thought and the individual philosophers and authors than to read their own words.




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12/2/21

This book is a fascinating introduction not just to the "Renaissance philosophy of man" (as the title has it) but to Renaissance philosophy in general. The introductions to each piece presented are excellent and informative; I was particularly impressed with the editors' linking of the Renaissance with the developments of the Middle Ages which produced the movement, factors too often overlooked and too great to be missed. The pieces selected are simply amazing. Pico della Mirandola's "Oration on the Dignity of Man" has been one of my favorite pieces of writing in all of history (not just the Renaissance) since the first time I read it. It was illuminating to be able to see it placed within the context of the spectrum and historical development of Medieval and Renaissance thought, to see where his ideas came from and where they led to in the minds and hands of others. I recommend this book for anyone interested in the Renaissance, anyone interested in filling in the gap between Medieval and Enlightenment philosophy, and anyone interested in being a human being. ( )