Topic I. Pico della Mirandola, Martin Luther, and Thomas Hobbes Take careful not
ID: 115034 • Letter: T
Question
Topic I. Pico della Mirandola, Martin Luther, and Thomas Hobbes
Take careful note of each of the questions I have asked. Before you submit your paper, review your work to insure that you have answered all of them. Please keep in mind that these questions do not ask you to say with which of these figures you agree or disagree.
1. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (Oration on the Dignity of Man)
a. In his Oration on the Dignity of Man, what did Giovanni Pico della Mirandola say that human beings are free to become?
b. What is it that Pico believed allows human beings to be free and what did he regard as the noblest goal that human beings can obtain with their freedom?
c. According to the textbook, what ancient philosopher most influenced Pico and how did this influence lead Pico away from the ideas of earlier Renaissance humanists?
2. Martin Luther (The Bondage of the Will)
a. In The Bondage of the Will what did Martin Luther argue is the role that human beings play in their own salvation?
b. What value did Luther place on free will for himself and for others?
c. According to the textbook, how did Luther’s view of salvation differ from theologians such as Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas?
3. Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan)
a. In Leviathan how did Thomas Hobbes describe human nature?
b. What sort of political system did Hobbes advocate? How did his view of human nature affect his political philosophy?
c. According to the textbook and from what you have learned in class, what events in England affected Hobbes’ view of government?
Topic II. Cicero, Jesus, and Niccolo Machiavelli
Take careful note of each of the questions I have asked. Before you submit your paper, review your work to insure that you have answered all of them. Please note that these questions do not ask you to say with which of these figures you agree or disagree.
1. Cicero (About the Ends of Good and Evil)
a. In About the Ends of Good and Evil what did Cicero say the Epicureans meant when they argued that pleasure is the chief good of life?
b. According to Cicero, what were the virtues that the Epicureans believed people should cultivate in order to achieve a good life?
c. According to the textbook, what did the Epicureans believe the purpose of the universe, if any, to be? What role did they believe the gods played in human life?
2. Jesus (The Sermon on the Mount)
a. In the Sermon on the Mount, what did Jesus tell his disciples they should do in order to achieve a good life?
b. What did Jesus teach his followers about how they should deal with worry?
c. According to the textbook, what were the principal similarities between Jesus and the Pharisees?
3. Niccolo Machiavelli (The Prince)
a. In The Prince what virtues did Niccolo Machiavelli say a prince should pretend to have and why?
b. How, according to Machiavelli, must a prince actually behave and why?
c. According to the textbook and from what you have learned in class, what events in Italy influenced what Machiavelli said in The Prince? Did Machiavelli think that tyranny was the ideal form of government?
Explanation / Answer
1. a. Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola was an Italian Renaissance nobleman and philosopher (1463-1494). He articulated his thoughts in 'Oration on the dignity of man', 1486. According to Pico, human beings are the last and best creation and we are free to become what we want that means we can choose our own destiny. He said that it may never be said against us that born in a high position we failed to appreciate it ,but we should avoid to become 'brutes'.
b. Pico studied all from the Muslim doctrine to Greek mythology to Jewish mysticism and tried to unite all these theories with Christian principle. He summerized his ideas in 900 conclusions. He told that the noblest goal that human being can obtain from their freedom is their destiny. Pico furthur sais that, if the free will properly directed it will become divine beings but if not directed properly, it can make human being into devil beings.
c. The great philosopher, Lorenz de' Medici and Ficino influenced Pico.
2.a. Martin Luther argued against Desiderius Erasmus' De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio'. Luther did not agree with the free will and predetination of human beings. Luther said about human beings that they are totally incapable of bringing themselves to God and the thing that incapacitates human beings from their own salvation is sin.
b. Luther said that ther is no free will for human beings. We are all under control. We can not choose our own choice- good or evil. These are naturally dominated by evil and God who controls the salvation. Only God can change a person from his evil to good ones.
c. Luther's view of salvation was totally different from the theologians Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinus who told about circumcision and baptism. According to them, circumcision was 'a seal of rightousness of faith' and availed for old and young for purging of former sin whereas baptism was about restoration of man from the time it was instituted. Luther said about salvation is “Faith is nothing else but the truth of the heart, that is to say, a true and right opinion of the heart as touching God.”