Analyzing the Neoplatonic/Christian origins of the formation of human sovereignty in the Renaissance era
Subject Areas : Research in Theoritical Politicskamyar safaei 1 , Saiedalireza Hosseinibeheshti 2
1 - PhD Student in Political Thought, Tarbiat Modares University, Iran.
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, TarbiatModares University, Iran
Keywords: Judgment, hierarchy, sovereignty, Marsilio Ficino, and Pico dellaMirandola. ,
Abstract :
The main topic of this research is to find the roots of human sovereignty in the age of the Renaissance, especially in the thoughts of Marsilio Ficino and Pico dellaMirandola who are two great neo-Platonist thinkers of this period. The two basic concepts that have been discussed here to illustrate the transfer of the right of sovereignty from God to Men are the concepts of Judgment and Hierarchy. From these two concepts, the judgment has derived from Christian theology and the hierarchy has derived from the neo-Platonic philosophy. We choose the concept of hierarchy because these two thinkers, in their main works, firstly describe the hierarchy of existence, and then, in opposition to the former neo-Platonists, they liberate man from that and give him the freedom to move in ascending or descending directions in that hierarchy. Therefore, the discussion of the concept of hierarchy and its theoretical development from Plotinus to Dionysius is necessary, to be able to speak of the liberation of Man from the hierarchy of existence in the thought of Ficino and Miranda. But it is necessary to address the theological concept of judgment because Mirandola states that a person can reach the position of one of the heavenly angels, namely "Tron", which is a symbol of divine judgment. For this reason, we searched for the meaning of the term Judgment, in the Old Testament and the New Testament, and showed that this term has three meaningsin the Scriptures: legislation, judgment in the legal sense, and sovereignty, and therefore We showed that Mirandola's notion of Judgment, accords with the third meaning of the term Judgment in Scriptures which is sovereignty. Accordingly, one can say that Man's possessing of the right to judge, in the thought of Ficino and Mirandola, which arises from his liberation from the hierarchy of existence and his access to the position of Throne means that he will have the right of Sovereignty. Therefore, the right to judge which now means sovereignty and previously belongs to God and through his grace, to Christ and God's saints, is thus transmitted to Man.
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