Oration on the Dignity of Man

Pico wrote the Oration on the Dignity of Man as an introduction to his planned disputation of 900 theses. It covers a variety of topics, and is centered on the place of man in the universe. The pope refused to permit the Oration, instead having it searched for heresy. Roughly a decade later, the text was published.

According to Pico, man has freedom, his defining trait. This freedom enables man to act in higher or lower ways. The higher ways are more in accordance with religious notions, while the lower ways are more comparable to plants and animals. A human becomes like his higher or lower actions. Pico likens this to ascending or descending a ladder. The better positions are higher. However, man can make even higher entities envious, because man has freedom.

Previous philosophers had considered man as an intermediate among the animals, or even of time. However, Pico considers man to have been made from parts of all the other creatures. Thus, man unites all things. Through his freedom, man can become like any other thing.

Cleansing and study form important steps in order for one to rise to higher levels. A man should maintain his mental capabilities, and improve them through the study of philosophy and theology, according to Pico. The further one thinks, the higher one rises. The top place is pure thought.

Errant thought, or uncontrolled passions, cause strife. Pico sees discord as bringing one down, and peace as raising one up. Studying philosophy and theology can bring a deeper peace, raising one to the highest levels. One should aim to act according to higher ideals. These include charity, intelligence, and justice. One can act as such by limiting excesses.

According to Pico, man can rise above the problems of earth. Instead of becoming entrenched in lower matters, earthly and dirty, he should strive for the divine. By achieving peace through thought, man can rise to the highest level of being, uniting with the divine. Pico sees religion as a “marriage” between the earthly and the divine. When man becomes peaceful through contemplation of philosophy and theology, he prepares for the wedding.

Pico refers to numerous philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle in Oration on the Dignity of Man. According to Pico, these philosophers, and theologians from various religions, had secret knowledge. The knowledge of numbers and magic align with religion. All reveal the truth about the world. Pico sees Christianity throughout different philosophical and religious schools, including in secret texts.

Numbers represent a pure form of thought, according to the Oration. Pico notes that previous philosophers have also considered numbers of prime importance. Numbers connect the different parts of creation. As such, philosophy and physics and other topics can be united by the study of numbers. Pico carefully notes that he and other philosophers do not refer to numbers in the sense that they are used by merchants; rather, numbers refer to a deeper truth.

In the Renaissance, and in Classical times, magic had some adherents who considered it a field of study, and it also had some detractors. Pico considers magic in some ways equivalent to religion or philosophy. However, he carefully distinguishes between good and evil forms of magic. Only the good magic could be considered comparable. This magic brings light, raising the lower creatures. The darker magic, by contrast, causes problems to those who practice it. A magician acts as an interpreter between the higher and lower levels.

For Pico, the world contains a hidden order. The order can be described by numbers, magic, philosophy, theology, physics, metaphysics, and poetry. He claims that philosophers and theologians have passed down secret understanding throughout the generations. Cabalists, academic initiates, and others invited into this knowledge could see the mysterious truth.

The hidden order that Pico describes unites the various civilizations that had influenced his own. It involves man at the center, with the freedom to rise higher or lower through his actions. Higher actions are more contemplative and based in moral thought. One must cleanse oneself of dirty lower pollutants, such as filth or passions or incorrect thoughts. The correct thoughts, through the correct methods of thought, can reveal the answers to even the most difficult of problems. People can transcend earthly problems, and reach religious accomplishment.

The Oration on the Dignity of Man presents several ideas from diverse traditions, alluding to this secret knowledge of the world. Man has mental capacities unlike other beings, and the freedom to alter his station, distinguishing him from the rest of creation. Pico sees the freedom of man as his defining trait, enabling man to unite all things.

Pico takes an extremely general approach to his philosophy. By devoting himself exclusively to his studies, he has been able to learn numerous languages and incorporate ideas from different sources. His uniting of Ancient Greek, Hebrew, Chaldean and other sources enables Pico to understand the world through a wider perspective than his peers. However, he has firm roots in his own tradition, and interprets other teachings, secret or not, as confirming Christianity.

Pico describes himself as a serious student who is pursuing the truth. His studies have substituted for more earthly activities such as pursuing wealth. Pico does not resent this, but rather considers it an even more ideal arrangement as time progresses.

Pico came from the Mirandola castle, and was one of three brothers. He left to study at various acclaimed centers of learning. Pico would then present his new philosophy to some of the most established authorities of his time. He wrote the Oration on the Dignity of Man to introduce his disputations of 900 theses.

According to Pico, thought has different types. The higher types of thought can bring together ideas numerically, revealing how the world operates. This enables one to rise above worldly matters. The lower types of thought concern ordinary matters. The latter may be higher than animals, but they are lower than the ideal types of thought, according to Pico.

For Pico, scholars debate ideas in a manner similar to how gladiators fight each other. Pico describes how taking on a large challenge at his age (while he was still in his early twenties) could alter what further generations would learn if he succeeded. Even if he failed, the large size of the presentation would make it commendable, and if he failed, he would learn even more than in victory.

Pico studied Islamic philosophy as well as Christian and Hebrew philosophy. In the Middle Ages, the Islamic world had become a leading center of ideas. The earlier Greek and Chaldean ideas influence later Western philosophies. Pico brings together these diverse ideas as his contemporaries did not.

According to the Oration, thought itself can raise man to the highest levels. One can interpret Pico as describing a mystical explanation of the mathematics in the world. Secret calculations passed down through closed groups of mystics. These understandings would have bolstered the teachings of renowned philosophers and theologians throughout the ages.

Oration on the Dignity of Man presents the idea of the freedom of man as his defining trait, allowing him to reach the highest levels of thought. This thought raises man above the plants and animals to the divine, bringing about a religious union. Man has a part from every other creature, and can both bring together the worldly and transcend the problems of the world.