He was the first Christian philosopher to tackle the mysteries of the Kabbalah. Throw in his aristocratic background, his height and heft—he was solidly built and six feet tall—along with his green eyes and a shoulder-length mane of wavy chestnut hair, and you have an appealing package.
But more important than his presentation was the animating ambition of his work, which is startlingly relevant today. It was as much theological as philosophical. For young Pico, there were no walls separating the sages of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and pagan antiquity; they existed side by side.
He spent his days and nights truffling through texts for symbols, much like a semiotician. What had been, for a thousand years, a Greek-speaking Christian empire—no less than the continuation of Rome—was now a Muslim caliphate. It was not exactly a prudent time to proclaim the wisdom of Islam. But that was Pico. In the very next sentence, he reels in a mysterious author from late antiquity named Hermes Trismegistus, who was highly esteemed by both Christian and Muslim thinkers though scholars today doubt his very existence.
He goes on to cite a piece of ancient Persian wisdom and to buttress it with a fragment of Psalm 8. The approach is a little more than bits-and-pieces eclecticism. The technical term is syncretistic: a harmonizing or synthesis. Thou … art the molder and maker of thyself; thou mayest sculpt thyself into whatever shape though dost prefer. It is unlikely, though, that Pico had in mind the modern form of individualism.
In his fragmentary speeches, letters, and tracts, he was forging a kind of humanism saturated in spirituality. He was on a mystical, otherworldly ascent, very typical of both the Kabbalah and Plato, his two intellectual passions. Thank you for these insights. Hope needs to be an activity that we pursue so that we can change the world for the better.
I am seeing all around me people reaching out with assistance and compassion. The cultural efflorescence we call the Renaissance was well underway at least 50 years before The temporal coincidence is not causal. Facile thinking undermines an otherwise good argument. I relied on Barbara Tuchman in that assertion. She argues that the plague created a set of changes that hastened the Renaissance. Among these conditions were individualism and questioning of established authorities such as the church.
A recent synopsis. Disasters bring unanticipated consequences. Is it possible that we will look up in humility to the unseen spiritual universe of which the visible one is a part of and from where we receive our fulfillment. Alan Durning. Thanks for your comment, Dorothy. One can hope. Is it possible that we will look to the unseen spiritual universe of which the visible one is a part of and from which we receive our purpose and find fulfillment and peace.
Thank you Alan…the interview was appreciated. I do expect widespread political changes. There is a very good possibility that the US will break up, with the blue states and red states going their own ways as Robert Reich puts it. The inability of the US political system to self-correct its fundamental constitutional problems already made that no longer a remote possibility. But our species has experienced this, many many times throughout the history of civilization.
Pandemics and large scale epidemics are nothing new, indeed they are an integral part of the evolution of this planet. This is par for the course. No a side note, I also fear the this might expose the flaws of science to the average public.
The rush to get a piece of the COVID science publication pie has lead to 1 an immensed number of non peer reviewed papers being reported by the media many wrong , 2 a rush to get papers peer reviewed incompletely , and 3 incomplete science in general getting published. An afternoon of work. Of course everything is still at play, but the patterns cannot be denied. Maybe it was hubris to think we could control a virus to begin with?
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Give today to upgrade our democracy, advance housing affordability, and fight fossil fuels. Advanced Filter. Alaska British Columbia Oregon Washington. Author: Alan Durning. This article is part of the series Coronavirus and Cascadia. Three hypotheses Fast-forward to spring His current topics of focus include carbon pricing, housing affordability, and democracy reform.
Read his full bio. Email: alandurning [at] sightline [dot] org. Recommended Reading. For press inquiries and interview requests, please contact Steph Routh Sightline Institute is a c 3 non-profit organization and does not support, endorse, or oppose any candidate or political party.
As leaders rapidly rose and fell, Machiavelli observed traits that, he believed, bolstered power and influence. In , after being expelled from political service with the takeover of Florence by the Medici family , Machiavelli penned his outline of what makes an effective leader in The Prince. Therefore, if a prince wants to maintain his rule he must be prepared not to be virtuous, and to make use of this or not according to need. Finally, leaders must not rely on luck, Machiavelli wrote, but should shape their own fortune, through charisma, cunning and force.
One of the real-life models Machiavelli took inspiration from when writing The Prince was Cesare Borgia, a crude, brutal and cunning prince of the Papal States whom Machiavelli had observed first-hand. During a visit with Borgia to discuss relations with Florence, Machiavelli witnessed as Borgia lured his enemies to the city of Senigallia with gifts and promises of friendship and then had them all assassinated.
Ultimately, even Borgia would succumb to ill fortune when his father, Pope Alexander VI, became ill and died. Borgia died a few years after the death of his father at the young age of But Machiavelli would not find an audience for his work before his death and Florence was not restored to its former glory in his lifetime.
France, then Spain and Austria, invaded Italy and its warring city-states were unable to defend themselves, leading to nearly years of dominance by outside rulers. Over the centuries that followed, the principles it espoused would trigger outrage as well as admiration and establish Machiavelli as a controversial and revolutionary political thinker.
Years after writing The Prince , Machiavelli penned The Art of War , a treatise written in the form of a dialogue between a military expert and citizens. The Art of War discusses the role that citizens have in supporting and using military troops to the citizens' advantage, the role of training and the best use of artillery in disarming one's enemies.
Drawing on themes he introduced in The Prince , Machiavelli also notes how deception and intrigue are valuable military strategies. Machiavelli would be blamed for inspiring Henry VIII to defy the pope and seize religious authority for himself.
Hitler kept a copy of The Prince by his bedside and Stalin was known to have read and annotated his copy of the book. Some scholars have questioned whether Machiavelli intended that readers take him at his word. Instead, they propose that The Prince was actually a satirical work and intended as a warning of what could happen if power is left unchecked.
But most take it at face value as a cold-blooded blueprint for how to gain and hold onto power.
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