Marsilio Ficino and His World

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

   PDF

2. The Myth Reconsidered

   • Sophia Howlett

   Pages 1-32

3. A Sense of Mission

   • Sophia Howlett

   Pages 33-68

4. An Anatomy of the Universe

   • Sophia Howlett

   Pages 69-99

5. The Microcosm

   • Sophia Howlett

   Pages 101-133

6. The Second Creation

   • Sophia Howlett

   Pages 135-163

7. A Short History of Impact

   • Sophia Howlett

   Pages 165-200

8. Back Matter

   Pages 201-232

   PDF

This book makes the case for Marsilio Ficino, a Renaissance philosopher and priest, as a canonical thinker, and provides an introduction for a broad audience.  Sophia Howlett examines him as part of the milieu of Renaissance Florence, part of a history of Platonic philosophy, and as a key figure in the ongoing crisis between classical revivalism and Christian belief.  The author discusses Ficino’s vision of a Platonic Christian universe with multiple worlds inhabited by angels, daemons and pagan gods, as well as our own distinctive role within that universe - climbing the heights to talk with angels yet constantly confused by the evidence of our own senses. Ficino as the “new Socrates” suggests to us that by changing ourselves, we can change our world.

• Marsilio Ficino
• Renaissance
• Philosophy
• Plato
• 15th Century Italy

• Kean University, Union, USA

  Sophia Howlett

Sophia Howlett is Associate Vice President for Learning Support at Kean University, USA.  She obtained a DPhil in Renaissance Philosophy and Literature from the University of York, UK and graduated from Cambridge University, UK.  She was previously Dean at Central European University (CEU), Hungary.  She has taught Philosophy and Literature at Kean University, CEU, the University of Teesside, and the University of York.  

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