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Chapter 12 - Human and Divine Love in Marsilio Ficino

from Part IV - Platonic Love during the Renaissance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 August 2022

By
Paul Richard Blum
Edited by
Carl Séan O'Brien  and
John Dillon
Carl Séan O'Brien
Affiliation:
Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Germany
John Dillon
Affiliation:
Trinity College Dublin
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Summary

Marsilio Ficino adopted the concept of love from Plato and the Neoplatonists in order to elaborate his philosophy of humanity and divinity. In commenting on Plato’s Symposium, he employed amor/eros for his philosophical theology according to which God and the universe are united: love is that which binds all levels together. As such a mediator and power, it engages humans as a species, as individuals, and in societies. Love is the formula that makes the metaphysical reality intelligible and teachable. Love divides the good from the abject and sets the standard that is attainable and binding for all.

Keywords

FicinoConviviumSymposiumSocratic loveDiotimaGiovanni CavalcantiDionysius the AreopagiteTrinity.
Type
Chapter
Information
Platonic Love from Antiquity to the Renaissance , pp. 201 - 210
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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