Renaissance Studies Humanities 312W Section

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Renaissance Studies Humanities 312W Section: J100 Term: 2011 Spring Instructor: Dr. Brook W.R. Pearson Discussion Topics: One of the generally recognized defining characteristics of Renaissance culture is a turn (back) towards aspects of classical culture that had been neglected in Europe during the Medieval period. This course will be concerned with an aspect of this turn, namely the way in which the esoteric discourses of recently rediscovered Hermetic thought played a role in the development of Renaissance philosophy and science. Hermeticism, a mixture of astrology, magic, alchemy, philosophy and religious thought deriving (likely) from Egyptian thinkers in the 2nd4th centuries, was reintroduced to Europe during the 15th century, and would go on to influence a number of significant thinkers throughout the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Though we will focus primarily upon Florentine Hermetic thinkers of the 15th century, course presentations will also look at some modern connections to this material. We will also pay attention to the political setting of this material, as it is Cosimo de Medici (13891464), founder of the Florentine Medici dynasty, to whom we owe the re-discovery of the Corpus Hermeticum. Cosimo is well known to have exercised his influence in Italian culture through economic, political, religious but also more broadly scholarly and cultural channels. He founded the Florentine Academy, headed by Marsilio Ficino, among whose students number both Giordano Bruno and Pico della Mirandola, and even, possibly, Michelangelo. Through such thinkers, the influence of Hermeticism extended throughout European scholarly discourse. Grading: 50% = Term Paper \x09\x09 \x095% = Topic Proposal \x09 \x0910% = Annotated bibliography and outline \x09 \x0925% = First draft \x09 \x0910% = Finished product (20 pages) \x09 35% = Presentation \x09 15% = Class/Seminar Participation \x09 Required Texts: Giordano Bruno (ed. Blackwell and Lucca), Giordano Bruno: Cause, Principle and Unity: And Essays on Magic (CUP, 1998; ISBN: 0521596580) Giordano Bruno, The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast (U. of Nebraska, 2004; ISBN: 0803262345) Brian Copenhaver (ed. and trans.), Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a New English Translation, with Notes and Introduction (CUP, 1995; ISBN: 0521425433) Umberto Eco, Foucaults Pendulum (Harcourt, 2007; ISBN: 015603297X) Additional texts, particularly by Pico della Mirandola, are freely available electronically. Renaissance Studies Recommended Texts: Francis Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (U. of Chicago, 1991; ISBN: 0226950077) Materials/Supplies: Prerequisite/Corequisite: Prerequisites: 45 credit hours Notes: Writing. This outline is derived from a course outline repository database that was maintained by SFU Student Services and the University's IT Services Department. The database was retired in 2014 and the data migrated to SFU Archives in 2015..

Copy Link

Recommended publications

“The Touch of Cold Philosophy”
Edinburgh Research Explorer The Fragmentation of Renaissance Occultism and the Decline of Magic Citation for published version: Henry, J 2008, 'The Fragmentation of Renaissance Occultism and the Decline of Magic', History of Science, vol. 46, no. Part 1, No 151, pp. 1-48. <http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/shp/histsci/2008/00000046/00000001/art00001> Link: Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research Explorer Document Version: Peer reviewed version Published In: History of Science Publisher Rights Statement: With permission © Henry, J. (2008). The Fragmentation of Renaissance Occultism and the Decline of Magic. History of Science, 46(Part 1, No 151), 1-48 General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 23. Sep. 2021 The Fragmentation of Renaissance Occultism and the Decline of Magic* [History of Science, 46 (2008), pp. 1-48.] The touch of cold philosophy? At a Christmas dinner party in 1817 an admittedly drunken
[Show full text]
The Writings of Marsilio Ficino and Lodovico Lazzarelli
Iskander Israel Rocha Parker CONFLICTING CONCEPTIONS OF HERMETIC THOUGHT IN FIFTEENTH CENTURY ITALY: THE WRITINGS OF MARSILIO FICINO AND LODOVICO LAZZARELLI MA Thesis in Comparative History, with a specialization in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies. Central European University Budapest June 2020 CEU eTD Collection CONFLICTING CONCEPTIONS OF HERMETIC THOUGHT IN FIFTEENTH CENTURY ITALY: THE WRITINGS OF MARSILIO FICINO AND LODOVICO LAZZARELLI by Iskander Israel Rocha Parker (Mexico) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ Chair, Examination Committee ____________________________________________ Thesis Supervisor ____________________________________________ Examiner ____________________________________________ CEU eTD Collection Examiner Budapest Month YYYY CONFLICTING CONCEPTIONS OF HERMETIC THOUGHT IN FIFTEENTH CENTURY ITALY: THE WRITINGS OF MARSILIO FICINO AND LODOVICO LAZZARELLI by Iskander Israel Rocha Parker (Mexico) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies. Accepted in conformance
[Show full text]
1 James Hankins Department of History Harvard University Chronological List of Publications
1 James Hankins Department of History Harvard University Chronological List of Publications IN PRESS “Petrarch and the Canon of Neo-Latin Literature” to be published in the proceedings of the conference the conference “Petrarca, l’Umanesimo e la civiltà europea,” Florence, Italy, December 2004, sponsored the Comitato Nazionale per il VII Centenario della Nascita di Francesco Petrarca. “The Chronology of Leonardo Bruni’s Later Works (1437-1443).” Forthcoming in Studi medievali e umanistici 5 (2007). “Monstrous Melancholy: Ficino and the Physiological Causes of Atheism,” forthcoming in a volume tentatively entitled, Laus Platonici philosophi: Marsilio Ficino and His Influence,” ed. Stephen Clucas and Valerie Rees (Brill). “Malinconia mostruosa: Ficino e le cause fisiologiche dell’atesimo,” the same in Italian translation, forthcoming in Rinascimento 2007. “Humanist Academies and Platonic Academies,” forthcoming in the proceedings of the conference, From the Roman Academy to the Danish Academy in Rome, ed. H. Ragn Jensen and M. Pade, to appear in Analecta Romana Instituti Danici Supplementum. French and Italian translations of Plato in the Italian Renaissance (1990) are to appear, respectively, with Les Belles Lettres (Paris), tr. Yves-Alain Segonds, and the press of the Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa (Edizioni del SNS), tr. Stefano Baldassarri. A new, revised edition of the English original is forthcoming from Brill. 2008 111. (with Ada Palmer). The Recovery of Ancient Philosophy in the Renaissance. A Brief Guide. (Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento, Quaderni di Rinascimento, vol. 44). Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2008. VIII + 96 pp. 2 110. “Notes on the Composition and Textual Tradition of Leonardo Bruni’s Historiarum Florentini populi libri XII,” in Classica et Beneventana: Essays presented to Virginia Brown on the Occasion of her Sixty-Fifth Birthday, ed.
[Show full text]
The Evolution of Individualism Through Christianity A
THE EVOLUTION OF INDIVIDUALISM THROUGH CHRISTIANITY A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of The School of Continuing Studies and of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Liberal Studies By Maureen Heath, M.P.A. Georgetown University Washington D.C. April 2018 DEDICATION I would like to thank my husband Dr. Jim Heath, who has been a source of constant motivation and support. He encouraged me to pursue the doctorate and has diligently read and edited multiple iterations of this thesis. I would also like to thank all the members of my committee: Dr. Frank Ambrosio, Dr. Bill O’Brien and especially Dr. JoAnn H. Moran Cruz, who has spent many hours mentoring me and guiding me through this process. ii THE EVOLUTION OF INDIVIDUALISM THROUGH CHRISTIANITY Maureen Heath DLS Chair: JoAnn Moran Cruz, Ph.D. ABSTRACT This thesis explores how Christianity and the birth of a Christian worldview affected the evolution of individualism in Western culture as a cultural meme. Applying a biological metaphor, the focus is on how mutations in the cultural genome arose from the advent of Christianity within a Eurocentric context. Utilizing a diachronic examination of selected authors and writings, this thesis explores that cultural evolution and shows the progression to the modern individual. Beginning with Augustine and extending to John Locke, the focus is on writers who are emblematic of a concept that becomes an adaptive trait or cultural meme in the evolutionary process. They include: Augustine exhibiting the inner self, Abelard and Ockham displaying the intentional self, Dante manifesting the responsible self, Pico della Mirandola and the self-made man, Montaigne presenting the subjective self, Luther with the autonomous-self meme, and Locke presenting the natural rights meme.
[Show full text]
2013-14 Academic Year: Will Meet at the Huntington Library to Discuss Four Pre- Distributed Research Papers
TABLE OF CONTENTS A Message from the Director, October 2013..............................................................................................2 CMRS Hosts MAA–MAP at UCLA.........................................................................................................3 Lectures, Conferences, and other Events, 2013 – 2014........................................................................4 – 9 Visiting Faculty, Students, and Scholars..............................................................................................10–11 Distinguished Visiting Scholars, 2013 – 2014 CMRS Summer Fellows Ahmanson Research Fellows UCLA Visiting Scholars affiliated with CMRS Visiting Graduate Researchers Publications.....................................................................................................................................12 – 15 Viator Repertorium Columbianum Cursor Mundi Comitatus International Encyclopaedia for the Middle Ages–Online Other CMRS Publication Projects A Checklist of CMRS Events, 2013 – 2014....................................................................................16 – 17 Student Support and Programs........................................................................................................18 – 19 George T. and Margaret W. Romani Fellowship CMRS Travel Grants CMRS Seminars Ahmanson Research Fellowships for the Study of Medieval and Renaissance Books and Manuscripts CMRS Research Assistantships Lynn and Maude White Fellowship Medieval and Early Modern Student Association
[Show full text]
Downloaded License
Aries – Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 21 (2021) 271–278 ARIES brill.com/arie Review Essays ∵ A New Volume of Perfect Words M. David Litwa’s Hermetica ii Dylan M. Burns University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands [email protected] M. David Litwa, Hermetica ii: The Excerpts of Stobaeus, Papyrus Fragments, and Ancient Testimonies in an English Translation with Notes and Introductions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018). isbn: 978-1-107-18253-0 The main impetus for this book is the absence of an up-to-date English trans- lation of significant materials, mostly pertaining to ‘philosophical Hermet- ica’—philosophically-inclined literature of Roman and late antiquity that fea- tures the Hellenistic Egyptian culture-hero Hermes Trismegistus (“thrice- greatest”)—that are not found in Brian Copenhaver’s celebrated 1992 Cam- bridge translation of the Corpus Hermeticum and Latin Asclepius.1 The mate- 1 Brian Copenhaver, tr., Hermetica: The Greek ‘Corpus Hermeticum’ and the Latin ‘Asclepius’ in a new English translation, with notes and introduction (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). Abbreviations of Hermetic fragments and testimonies: fh: Fragments of Hermetica sh: Stobaeus (Fragments of) Hermetica th: Testimonies of Hermetica Abbreviations of modern resources on Hermetica: chd: Jens Holzhausen, tr., Corpus Hermeticum Deutsch (2 vols.; Stuttgart-Bad Cannsatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 1997). Litwa: M. David Litwa, Hermetica ii, under review here. © dylan m. burns, 2021 | doi:10.1163/15700593-02102003 This is an
[Show full text]
The Influence of Plotinus on Marsilio Ficino's Doctrine
THE INFLUENCE OF PLOTINUS ON MARSILIO FICINO‘S DOCTRINE OF THE HIERARCHY OF BEING by Nora I. Ayala A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, Florida May 2011 THE INFLUE CE OF PLOTINUS ON MARSILIO FICINO'S DOCTRINE OF THE HIERARCHY OF BEING by ora 1. Ayala This thesis was prepared under the direction ofthe candidate's thesis advisor, Dr. Marina Paola Banchetti, Department of Philosophy, and has been approved by the members of her supervisory committee. It was submitted to the faculty of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters and was accepted in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements for the degree ofMaster ofArts. SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: J) ~'S{L~=-~ Clevis R. Headley, Ph.D. ~> (L.. ~-=--~ Clevis R. Headley, Ph.D. Director, Liberal Studies ~; .~.Q. L ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my sincere thanks to those who were, have been, and are a part of my life. I am who I am because of their unique gifts. iii ABSTRACT Author: Nora I. Ayala Title: The Influence of Plotinus on Marsilio Ficino‘s Doctrine of the Hierarchy of Being Institution: Florida Atlantic University Thesis Advisor: Marina Paola Banchetti, Ph.D. Degree: Master of Arts Year: 2011 Marsilio Ficino provides the ground to consider Renaissance Platonism as a distinctive movement within the vast context of Renaissance philosophy. Ficino‘s Platonism includes traces of earlier humanistic thought and ideas from Neoplatonic philosophers such as Plotinus, Proclus, and Dionysius the Areopagite.
[Show full text]
The Hermetic Tradition Joscelyn Godwin, Ph.D
The Hermetic Tradition Joscelyn Godwin, Ph.D. From The Golden Thread, translated by Joscelyn Godwin, © 2007, reproduced by permission of Quest Books, the imprint of the Theosophical Publishing House www.questbooks.net. eading esoteric scholar Joscelyn Godwin useful knowledge to mankind. A god who traces the outlines of the Hermetic relates to mankind by giving knowledge is LTradition from Thoth to Hermes far different from a suffering savior god like Trismegistus, and its essential teachings. He Osiris or Jesus, or a loving mother goddess demonstrates how the unique character of the like Isis or the Virgin Mary, and will attract tradition has enabled it to influence much of a different type of devotee. The way that the Western world and its many paths. leads through knowledge is, on the whole, an esoteric path, as opposed to the exoteric one of devotional religion. This knowledge, which is the goal of true philosophy, has a The idea of a primordial wisdom dual purpose. First, it teaches techniques and leading directly from the Egyptian Hermes practices for overcoming human limitations, Trismegistus to the Greek Orpheus had more such as the trauma of death. Second, it than a grain of truth in it. Even though the studies the cosmic order and seeks to work Egypt of classical times was far past its zenith, within it. Wherever these two purposes its temple traditions attracted aspirants of the meet, we have a form of Hermetism. caliber of Pythagoras and Plato, who made the Characteristics of Thoth journey to gain its initiations and incorporate them into their own philosophies.
[Show full text]
Washington, DC 22–24 March 2012 Leonardo Da Vinci, Ginevra De’ Benci, Ca
The Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting Program and Abstract Book Washington, DC 22–24 March 2012 Leonardo da Vinci, Ginevra de’ Benci, ca. 1474/78. Alisa Mellon Bruce Fund. Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Contents The indexes in this book refer to five-digit panel numbers, not page numbers. Panels on Thursday have panel numbers that begin with the number 1; panels on Friday begin with the number 2; and pan- els on Saturday begin with the number 3. The black tabs on each page of the full program are an additional navigational aid: they pro- vide the date and time of the panels. RSA Executive Board.......................................................................5 Acknowledgments.............................................................................6 Book Exhibition and Registration ...................................................10 Business Meetings...........................................................................11 Plenaries, Awards, and Special Events.............................................12 Program Summary Thursday.................................................................................16 Friday.....................................................................................25 Saturday..................................................................................32 Full program with abstracts Thursday 8:30–10:00.......................................................................41 10:15–11:45.....................................................................74
[Show full text]
Brian Copenhaver, Magic in Western Culture. From
Zitierhinweis Young, Francis: Rezension über: Brian Copenhaver, Magic in Western Culture. From Antiquity to the Enlightenment, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015, in: Reviews in History, 2016, September, DOI: 10.14296/RiH/2014/1999, heruntergeladen über recensio.net First published: http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1999 copyright Dieser Beitrag kann vom Nutzer zu eigenen nicht-kommerziellen Zwecken heruntergeladen und/oder ausgedruckt werden. Darüber hinaus gehende Nutzungen sind ohne weitere Genehmigung der Rechteinhaber nur im Rahmen der gesetzlichen Schrankenbestimmungen (§§ 44a-63a UrhG) zulässig. Frances Yates’ seminal book Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (1964), which established a longstanding scholarly orthodoxy that Renaissance magic derived from interpretations of the Hermetic Corpus, has been challenged in its details by Bruno scholars and others. However, it is not until now that a complete revisionist account of the history of Renaissance magic has appeared that can compete with the scope and authority of Yates’ masterpiece. Brian Copenhaver’s Magic in Western Culture is a towering achievement in the field of intellectual history that is evidently the product of years – or decades, one suspects – of its author’s immersion in the primary sources. In spite of its focus on the history of magic, this book is in fact essential reading for students of the history of ideas, the history of philosophy, the history of medicine, the history of science and even students of art history, since Copenhaver places great stress on the significance of images in both the development and the dismemberment of the western magical tradition. It would be a shame if the book’s readership were confined to historians of magic, since its significance is so much more far-reaching.
[Show full text]
Twolaudationes
TWO LAUDATIONES THE LITERARY SCHOLAR AS INTELLECTUAL HISTORIAN: MICHAEL J. B. ALLEN AND WESTERN THOUGHT & BRIAN COPENHAVER: OR ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATOR AS SHAPE-SHIFTER JOHN MONFASANI UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY – SUNY Ephemera are meant for particular moments. But some moments are worth preserving in special ways, and in the case of Professors Allen and Copenhaver, a moment that allows a retrospective look at their impactful scholarly careers not only pays tribute to them, but also gives us particular insight into the course of Renaissance scholarship for much of the last half century.1 The talks deliberately contain a good deal of whimsy,2 but also, I hope, indications of the achievements of these two great scholars. 1 The first of these talks was delivered on 16 November 2012 at the University of California, Los Angeles, at the symposium ‘The Poetic Theology of Michael J. B. Allen’, organized to honor upon his retirement the greatest living student of the Renaissance philosopher Marsilio Ficino. The second talk was also delivered at UCLA, this time on 24 January 2015, as one of several appreciations by various scholars that constituted the ‘Brian Fest’ organized to honor upon his retirement one of the most distinguished scholars today of Renaissance philosophy, intellectual history, magic, and occultism. Since then Professors Allen and Copenhaver have continued to publish at an enviable rate and have in the press or in the process of completion still more works of scholarship. But to attempt to update the talks would be Sisyphean, given the continued productivity of Professors Allen and Copenhaver, and would in the end also distort the talks as they were given at the time.
[Show full text]
A History of Western Philosophy: 3 Renaissance Philosophy
页码，1/288 A History of Western Philosophy: 3 Renaissance Philosophy BRIAN P. COPENHAVER AND CHARLES B. SCHMITT Oxford New York OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS -iii- Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogotá Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris São Paulo Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press © Brian P. Copenhaver and the estate of Charles B. Schmitt 1992 First published 1992 as an Oxford University Press paperback and simultaneously in a hardback edition All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press. Within the UK, exceptions are allowed in respect of any fair dealing for the purpose of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of the licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms and in other countries should be tent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Copenhaver, Brian P.
[Show full text]