Marsilio Ficino (Ficino Marsilio)

(1433-1499)
Born October 19, 1433 in Figline-Valdarno near Florence. He studied Latin and Greek languages, philosophy and medicine, apparently, in Florence, early interest in Plato and his school, and thanks to the patronage of Cosimo de 'Medici and his successors to fully devote himself to scientific pursuits. In 1462 Ficino became the recognized leader of the Platonic Academy in Florence, one of the most important intellectual centers of the Renaissance. He became a priest in 1473 and has held several high church positions. Ficino died in Karedzhi near Florence, October 1, 1499.
The made Ficino excellent translations into Latin of Plato and Plotinus, the first full meeting of these thinkers in Western Europe (completed ca. 1470, published in 1484 and 1492), were run up to 18 in. Ficino also translated into Latin and other Neoplatonists (Iamblichus, Proclus, Porphyry, and others), and treatises TN. Hermetic set. Widely used and its comments on the works of Plato and Plotinus, . a commentary on Plato's dialogue Feast (1469, . also known under the title On Love, . De amore) was the source of most arguments about love for thinkers, . poets and writers of the Renaissance,
. According to Ficino, Plato saw love as a spiritual relationship between human beings based on their initial inner love of God. Home philosophical work Ficino - Platonic theology of the immortality of the soul (Theologiae platonicae de immortalitate animorum, . 1469-1474, . first edition 1482) - a sophisticated metaphysical treatise, . in which the teachings of Plato and the Neoplatonists appears in agreement with the Christian theology,
. This work, the most systematic work of the Italian Platonism for the entire Renaissance, reduces the universe to the five fundamental principles: God, the heavenly spirit, located in the center of a reasonable soul, quality and body. The main theme of work is the immortality of the soul. Problem of human life, . on Ficino, . is contemplating, . culminating in direct vision of God, . but, . because the ultimate goal is rarely achieved on Earth, . be postulated future life of the soul, . in which it reaches its true purpose,
. There is also the book is a treatise on the Christian religion (Liber de Christiana religione, 1474). Correspondence Ficino - a rich source of biographical and historical information, many letters are in fact small philosophical treatises. Among other works on theology, medicine and astrology, we can note three books about life (De vita libri tres, 1489). Ficino was one of the leading thinkers of the early Renaissance and the most significant representative of Renaissance Platonism.