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Dignity, Vile Bodies, and Nakedness
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Although Giovanni Pico della Mirandola has been called the most important voice for human dignity of postmedieval times, he had nothing to say about this concept—neither its ancient and medieval versions nor, of course, the modern, post-Kantian notion. Pico’s celebrated Oration on the Dignity of Man was not given that title by its author. However, a near contemporary who revised older concepts of dignitas—like Cicero’s—was Giannozzo Manetti. Unlike Pico, Manetti also confronted the best-known medieval statement on the topic, by Cardinal Lothario dei Segni. From earlier Christian traditions, the cardinal inherited—and aggravated—a harshly ascetic view of the human condition. Although Manetti repeats some of this Christian pessimism, his attitudes toward the body and human agency are remarkably less dismal. Today, if we ignore Manetti and misread Pico, our philosophical understanding of dignitas and its progeny suffers.
Title: Dignity, Vile Bodies, and Nakedness
Description:
Although Giovanni Pico della Mirandola has been called the most important voice for human dignity of postmedieval times, he had nothing to say about this concept—neither its ancient and medieval versions nor, of course, the modern, post-Kantian notion.
Pico’s celebrated Oration on the Dignity of Man was not given that title by its author.
However, a near contemporary who revised older concepts of dignitas—like Cicero’s—was Giannozzo Manetti.
Unlike Pico, Manetti also confronted the best-known medieval statement on the topic, by Cardinal Lothario dei Segni.
From earlier Christian traditions, the cardinal inherited—and aggravated—a harshly ascetic view of the human condition.
Although Manetti repeats some of this Christian pessimism, his attitudes toward the body and human agency are remarkably less dismal.
Today, if we ignore Manetti and misread Pico, our philosophical understanding of dignitas and its progeny suffers.
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