Paste your essay in here..Philosophy was first coined between 570-495 BCE by Pythagoras, a Greek Philosopher who was credited with creating the Pythagorean Theorem. Not long after some of the most well-known philosophers were born such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Socrates was the teacher of Plato and then Plato was the teacher of Aristotle. While philosophies were passed down, each had their own that they are well known for. Socrates is well known for his social contract theory, Plato for his discussion on the forms, and Aristotle for his ethics. It is often thought that philosophy and Christian theology are separate entities and do not coincide with each other. Some philosophies challenge the existence of god, like Frederick Nietzsche, a philosopher who spoke on the “death of God.” Humanism had a similar issue as well. Many Popes, such as Pope Paul II and Pope Pius II, had differing feelings about humanism ranging from suspicion to acceptance. In this essay I will argue that in the fresco School of Athens by Raphaello Sanzio da Urbino created between 1509-1511 and located in the Stanza della Segnatura inside the Vatican, Plato’s Timaeus and Aristotle’s Ethics were chosen to be depicted due to their relationship to Christian theology and humanism, in order to show the Pope’s feelings on humanism at the time. I will do this by discussing the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle in the context of their books shown, how they fit in to the Christian religion and humanism, and the relationship between humanism and Christian Theology.
School of Athens is an amazing fresco that is full of many figures wearing colored robes. These figures have been identified as Philosophers, Mathematicians, and Theologians. There are several groups that appear to be talking and listening within the fresco. What these groups appear to be talking about can be deduced from symbols some figures are holding. The background appears to have qualities from antiquity in its architecture as well as some sculptures from antiquity. At the vanishing point of the fresco, where one’s eyes are drawn to, is Plato and Aristotle. Plato looks many years older than Aristotle, wearing a red robe, and carrying Timaeus. Aristotle is wearing a blue robe and is carrying his Nicomachean Ethics. They are each standing in a position that seems to demonstrate a philosophy they each hold. This fresco is lively and bright and the way the light is depicted adds a slight soft focused affect to the fresco making it very appealing to look at.
Plato was a Classical Greece Philosopher born between 427-347 BCE. He is well known in Western Philosophy and is thought to be the founder of it. Platonism (Philosophy of Plato) influenced Christianity during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Saint Augustine regarded Plato as “the greatest, if not the only precursor of Christianity among the ancients”. Marsilio Ficino, the author of Platonic Theology, through his works in the late 15th Century allowed “Christians influenced by Plato to identify his “one” with God, thereby making Platonism compatible with Christianity”. Making is clear that Plato was already well ingrained into Christianity by the time School of Athens was painted.
Plato also wrote many books Timaeus being one of them. Timaeus is a dialogue mainly between Socrates and Timaeus but also includes Critias and Hermocrates. The dialogue starts off by Socrates giving his friends, “an account of the ideal state, and has expressed his desire to see this state brought out of the realm of abstraction, and portrayed in action”. The book was originally supposed to have multiple parts with each friend’s response. However, Plato died while writing Critias after he had already written Timaeus and before he was ever able to start Hermocrates. So out of the three Timaeus is the only fully finished book.
Parts of Timaeus have connections to the Christian Religion. While Plato’s God is not all powerful he does only do good and the reason for which he is not all powerful is because “The creator of the world, like the artisan of common experience, must exercise skill upon the materials available.” However, “These materials are not always the best adapted to his purposes, and in some cases they offer resistance to his efforts.” God does not create these materials though. Plato claims that this is done by a “new beginning” where fire, water, air, and earth (the materials) existed before the creations of the heavens. “These materials, and the receptacle-or space-in which they operate, are possessed of inherent powers, moving and being moved by one another ‘with-out reason or measure.’”8 This inherent power helps God in his work in shaping these materials and purpose is “to bring the greatest part of things created to perfection.” In this way all things perfect have to be made by God. While not all of Plato’s Timaeus fits with Christian theology, specifically where his view states that God is not omnipotent, large parts of his dialogue can be seen as being related to Christian theology. Especially in his view where God is seen as always good and as a creator of all perfect things. Plato’s student Aristotle also wrote many books and the book that he is holding, his Nicomachean Ethics, appears to have similar connections as well.
Aristotle was an Ancient Greek Philosopher born in 384 BCE. Like Plato he was also known as the founder to western philosophy. He has written on many topics but is largely recognized for his Ethics. Albertus Magnus, a Catholic Saint born in 1193 integrated Aristotelianism into Christian Theology by relating Aristotle’s philosophy to Christianity. He was the first to comment on all of Aristotle’s work, making them available to the masses. Due to this Aristotelianism became inserted into Dominican teachings. Thomas Aquinas, another Catholic Saint born in 1225 who is still very well known today, also connected Aristotle’s philosophy to Christianity. He also, “thought about philosophy as the discipline that investigates what we can know naturally about God and human beings.”
There seems to not be one concise answer about the book that Aristotle is holding. Many sources just call it the book of his Ethics and another will call his specifically his Nicomachean Ethics. I would think that it is most likely his Nicomachean Ethics specifically because it is the more well studied of the two books he has written on ethics. The more popular book would be the better choice because more people would have studied it and viewers of the fresco would be able to use their knowledge of its contents to apply to the context of the painting. However, there are multiple parts of Nicomachean Ethics that are the same as his other ethics. For the purpose of this essay I will be specifically referencing his Nicomachean Ethics for the reasons stated above.
Nicomachean Ethic’s discussion the morality and ethics of men has Christian theological relations. Specifically talking about how a man should be behave in order to be morally good. His specific book states ethical behavior on multiple different topics but in general the morally good person is someone who behaves morally virtuous and in order to do this is to act with reason. Moral virtue is concerned with people’s emotions and their actions because of them. The goal is that those emotions are at the median between excessive and deficient. It is with man’s temperance and reason that he uses to bring these emotions to the median by using temperance. While Aristotle says that moral virtue is not latent in religion. A lot of the Aristotle’s virtues are similar to religious ones. Such as Friendliness with Kindness and Magnificence with Charity. Both have patience, pride, and temperance. These similarities in virtues can connect Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Christian theology.
Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics also have humanistic connections. Francesco Petrarca, also known as Petrarch, born in 1304 and died in 1374, is a scholar and Renaissance poet and known for being the father of humanism. When humanism is juxtaposed to scholasticism much like it was in the Italian Renaissance it can be defined as “aesthetic sensibility, a logical method, and insistence on the primacy of ethics in philosophy, a curriculum grounded in classical grammar and rhetoric, or an agenda designed to meet the needs of a powerful social class.” What stands out to me in this definition is, “the primacy of ethics in philosophy.” When thinking about the primacy of ethics something that comes to mind is the idea that man is the one responsible for his actions. This also happens to be exactly what Aristotle’s ethics is founded on. Aristotle provides ways on how to act morally virtuous in order to live the good life because he believes that humans are responsible for their decisions and actions. If this wasn’t the case, then it would not matter if you knew how to behave in a morally virtuous person because no matter what you did because you are not responsible for your actions, God is.
Plato’s Timaeus has humanistic connections as well. Plato had thought that there were two parts to man. The part that was governed by reason and intelligence was the part that was created by God as he “endowed it (the world) with a soul guided by intelligence” and that man “partakes of the same harmonious proportions as the world soul.” Insinuating that like the world god also gave man intelligence. God also made the part of man that is able to reason as well. Meaning that this other half of man that is of appetite and desire. What this means though is that man can have “self-inflicted evils.” This relates back to the primacy of ethics and how man is responsible for his actions. Even though man’s half that is of appetite and desire was made by the “created gods” man still has responsibility for his actions because there are such things as “self-inflicted evils.”
Both Aristotle and Plato themselves have connections to Christian theology. It makes sense to place them in a fresco about philosophy as they are some of the most well-known philosophers. For this reason, it may appear that they just happened to be there for that reason and that their books (who also have theological connections) are there to help identify them. However, it is not that simple. When looking at the integration of their philosophies and their books into Christian theology it becomes clear that the books were added for more than philosophical reasons. In order to look at the bigger picture as to maybe why the location of the fresco needs to be taken into account.
The room in which the fresco is located is called the Stanza della Segnatura, also known as the Raphael rooms. This room was home to Pope Julius II’s, whose real name was Giuliano della Rovere and Papacy started in 1503, library and housed three other frescos on its walls that expressed the other humanities: Religion, Poetry, and Law. Underneath these frescos were books about each of the subjects above it. So overall this room has a humanistic theme to it and when we think about School of Athens purpose to the room we need to consider the connection philosophy has to Christian theology to humanism.
The history between humanism and Christian theology is one that is surprising. It is quite amazing that Raphael incorporated these two things together because of the history they share. The relationship between Christion theology and humanism is one that is rocky. Florentine humanism was very secular and Roman humanism was made to be woven in with Christian Theology. During this time Popes had different opinions about humanism. Pope Paul II was suspicious about humanism while Pope Pius II was accepting of it. Clearly from the differing opinions between Popes and the differing thoughts of humanism between city’s, the relationship between Christian Theology and humanism was difficult. However, the connection between humanism and Christian theology is one that is harmonious within the School of Athens.
School of Athens by Raphael, with the creation of the connection between Christian theology and philosophy and then philosophy and humanism, brings together two ideas Christian theology and philosophy, that previously had a turbulent past. By doing this the Pope Julius II depicts to his guests and society that he is accepting of humanism. It also shows that he believes Christian theology and humanism are not completely diverging entities but rather can intertwine.
Often in art history scholars will witness art that was created for a specific purpose for use by the patron. Pope Julius II commissioned Raphael in order to create an image of himself as someone who accepted humanism. This was done through connecting humanism and Christian through philosophy. Plato’s Timaeus and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics was chosen to aid in the unification of the things. This unification allowed these two previously thought opposite ways of thinking to become intertwined in a way that is able to be seen visually. The visual showing of this connection was able to be seen by guests that Pope Julius II and provided to them information on what Pope Julius’s thoughts were on humanism. While it is common in art history to see examples of art being commissioned by patrons for social purposes. School of Athens, while being an amazing work of art, exemplifies this.