Viewpoints Comparative Questions

  1. How did Petrarch view the relationship between classical and Christian works? How did Pico view it? How can you explain the differences you note?
  2. How might Petrarch have responded to Pico’s ambitious philosophical project? Would he have supported Pico’s plan to publicly debate his 900 Questions?
  3. What marks each of these men as humanists? What marks them as Renaissance, and not medieval, thinkers?

Charles Glenn Wallis, trans., Pico della Mirandola: On the Dignity of Man (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1965), 17–19.