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Cargando... Meditations on the Soul: Selected Letters of Marsilio Ficinopor Clement Salaman
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The problems that taxed the minds of people during the Renaissance were much the same as those confronting us today. In their perplexity many deep-thinking people sought the advice of Marsilio Ficino, the leader of the Platonic Academy in Florence, and through his letters he advised them, encouraged them, and sometimes reproved them. Ficino was utterly fearless in expressing what he knew to be true. His letters cover the widest range of topics, mixing philosophy and humor, compassion and advice, and offering a profound glimpse into the soul of the Renaissance. This is the only accessible collection of Ficino's writings available in English. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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 Google Books — Cargando...GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)186.4Philosophy and Psychology Ancient, medieval and eastern philosophy Skeptic and Neoplatonic philosophies Neoplatonic philosophyClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio: (4.5)
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2
INTRODUCTION
There are few who would pick up a book of fifteenth-century phíloso
y from anything other than a sense of duty. But the letters of
Ficino (1433-1499) of Florence are an exception. They are philosophícal
inspired by Plato; but they also have an instant appeal because they
connect with what we all know, but mostly ignore: the knowledge of our
own soul. In so many of these letters Ficino urges us either directly or
indirectly to cultivate our soul, a message that in our own times has been
taken up with great eloquence and power by Thomas Moore.! In the
Moore sense these letters are "soulful." They invite us to look agaín at
those areas of our lives that we have neglected or on which we have fixed
views. Above all, they advise us not to pursue sensory objects for their
own sake. Ficino writes (letter 19), "I can only judge it the most foolish
act of all, that many people most diligently feed a beast, that is, their
body, a wild, cruel and dangerous animal; but allow themselves, that is
the soul, insofar as they have one, to starve to death".
Yet Ficino is no hair-shirt ascetic. He is no medieval mystic turning
away from the world in disgust. He is drawing our attention to what is
truly good and truly beautiful in the world and in ourselves and inviting
us to turn to that. Only in this way can everything really be enjoyed
only in this way can the soul really be fed. He writes in letter 2.34.2
"Shame on mortals, again and again shame on them, I say, for no other
reason save this: they delight in mortal goods, and in so doing they ig
nore the eternal good itself".
Ficino is not telling us that the good things of the world are not to be
enjoyed, but that they cannot truly be enjoyed without being related to a
greater good of which they are a part.
1. See especially Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul (New York: HarperCollins, 1992)
2. Some references in this introduction are to letters that do not appear in this selection
These are cited by volume and number (for example, 2.34) as they appear in The Letters
of Marsilio Ficino.