Warning: Use of undefined constant referer - assumed 'referer' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 102

Warning: Use of undefined constant host - assumed 'host' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 105

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 106

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 109
Comparing Renaissance Thinkers Mirandola and Machiavelli - School Essays

Comparing Renaissance Thinkers Mirandola and Machiavelli

There are two Renaissance thinkers whose concepts of the way in which man ought to behave appear to be almost exactly opposite at first glance. Those two thinkers, Pico Della Mirandola and Niccolo Machiavelli, would seem to have very little in common in their thought processes concerning the idea way for a 16th century man to be a man. For example, Mirandola says, "Above all, we should not make that freedom of choice God gave us into something harmful, for it was intended to be to our advantage." (Oration) This sounds very much like a humanist sentiment, and very far from what Machiavelli might say; to the modern ear, Machiavelli's advice sounds like he definitely expects men to do ...

Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers

to live at odds. Or do they? Is Oration on the Dignity of Man just another way of saying The Prince, looked at through a Renaissance lens. Perhaps. These two writers, and probably others, viewed man as a prince no matter what his station. "Who would not admire man...." Mirandola challenges. (Oration) In speaking of the study of the art of war, Machiavelli contends that the art well practiced "upholds those who are born princes, but it often enables men to rise from a private station to that rank." (The Prince)
To both of these thinkers, men are princes, called to be above all other creatures on earth, although admittedly, Machiavelli also believes some men are princelier a priori than others. Still, taken together, these two thinkers will give a reader two sides of the same Renaissance coin, for both believe implicitly that man ought to live as if he were a prince. Machiavelli may deal with the temporal world, and Mirandola with a slightly more spiritual one, but the ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.

Already a member? Login

CITE THIS PAGE:

APA
MLA
Chicago
Turabian

Comparing Renaissance Thinkers Mirandola and Machiavelli. (2016, May 17). Retrieved June 19, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Comparing-Renaissance-Thinkers-Mirandola-and-Machiavelli/105639

"Comparing Renaissance Thinkers Mirandola and Machiavelli." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 17 May. 2016. Web. 19 Jun. 2025. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Comparing-Renaissance-Thinkers-Mirandola-and-Machiavelli/105639>

"Comparing Renaissance Thinkers Mirandola and Machiavelli." Essayworld.com. May 17, 2016. Accessed June 19, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Comparing-Renaissance-Thinkers-Mirandola-and-Machiavelli/105639.

JOIN NOW

Join today and get instant access to this and 50,000+ other essays

PAPER DETAILS

Added: 5/17/2016 05:26:56 AM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 555
Pages: 3

Save |

Report

SHARE THIS PAPER

SAVED ESSAYS

Save and find your favorite essays easier