The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Philosophy

by Edited by James Hankins

• ISBN13: 9780521608930
• ISBN10: 0521608937
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-11-05
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Philosophy provides an introduction to a complex period of change in the subject matter and practice of philosophy. The philosophy of the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries is often seen as transitional between the scholastic philosophy of the Middle Ages and modern philosophy, but the essays collected here, by a distinguished international team of contributors, call these assumptions into question, emphasizing both the continuity with scholastic philosophy and the role of Renaissance philosophy in the emergence of modernity. They explore the ways in which the science, religion and politics of the period reflect and are reflected in its philosophical life, and they emphasize the dynamism and pluralism of a period which saw both new perspectives and enduring contributions to the history of philosophy. This will be an invaluable guide for students of philosophy, intellectual historians, and all who are interested in Renaissance thought.

Table of Contents

List of figures	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. viii
Notes on contributors	p. ix
Chronology	p. xii
Introduction	p. 1
Continuity and Revival	p. 11
The philosopher and Renaissance culture	p. 13
Humanism, scholasticism, and Renaissance philosophy	p. 30
Continuity and change in the Aristotelian tradition	p. 49
The revival of Platonic philosophy	p. 72
The revival of Hellenistic philosophies	p. 97
Arabic philosophy and Averroism	p. 113
How to do magic, and why: philosophical prescriptions	p. 137
Toward Modern Philosophy	p. 171
Nicholas of Cusa and modern philosophy	p. 173
Lorenzo Valla and the rise of humanist dialectic	p. 193
The immortality of the soul	p. 211
Philosophy and the crisis of religion	p. 234
Hispanic scholastic philosophy	p. 250
New visions of the cosmos	p. 270
Organizations of knowledge	p. 287
Humanistic and scholastic ethics	p. 304
The problem of the prince	p. 319
The significance of Renaissance philosophy	p. 338
Brief biographies of Renaissance philosophers	p. 346
Bibliography	p. 361
Index	p. 401
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