Florentine Platonism and the Problem of the Creation of Souls

A Methodological Approach

Abstract

In this paper I argue that Pico’s criticism (in his Commento sopra una canzone d’amore) to Marsilio Ficino is not the result of ignorance or precipitation: it is the result of the characteristics of Ficino’s own text (his commentary on Plato’s Symposium, also known as De amore). To prove this I propose a methodology that starts from a holistic reading of the Florentine Platonism as a philosophical movement, based on a system of cross-references that share thematic and temporal coincidences. As an example, I analyze, under this methodology, Pico’s critic to Ficino’s position on the creation of souls. The topic is studied by postulating a relationship of mutual hermeneutical dependence between the works of the two philosophers, a relationship that has not been explored in depth by the academic literature.