Marsilio Ficino, Theologia Platonica de immortalitate animae [Platonic Theology]

James G. Snyder (Marist College)

Ed. by Jo Ann Cavallo, Columbia University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.6.1: Italian Writing and Culture, 453-present.
Vol. editors: Carla Bregman (Independent Scholar - North America), Jo Ann Cavallo (Columbia University)

Domains

Philosophy (any)
Theology

Dates

First circulation or publication 1469 - 1474

Places

Italy (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Treatise

Resources

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The

Platonic Theology

(1482) is the philosophical masterpiece of the Renaissance Platonist Marsilio Ficino (1433-99). The book is an encyclopedic defense of the immortality of the soul, and it was largely responsible for elevating this question to a position of philosophical importance in the Renaissance. In addition to defending immortality, Ficino also articulates those ideas and positions that are most distinctive of his thought. He lays down the basic principles of a vitalistic natural philosophy, according to which a World Soul suffuses all of nature, imparting life, motion, and order to it. Ficino also presents his own restructuring of the Neoplatonic hierarchy of being, and he situates the rational soul at a privileged mid-point between God and prime matter. While the soul’s…

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2229 words

Citation: Snyder, James G. . "Theologia Platonica de immortalitate animae". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 January 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34220, accessed 21 November 2024.]