Oration on the Dignity of Man

Oration on the Dignity of Man Analysis

Pico tries to find some explanation for the ineffable sense of worth that he finds in his own human experience. We learn this especially toward the end of Oration when he admits that he felt compelled to philosophy by his experience of self. This is especially valuable in regard to society and its rules, he feels, because the ultimate goal of human life, he feels, is to experience the beautiful, complex, baffling nature of this reality.

For Pico, God is a force of artistic design. This whole argument is derived from the original argument that perhaps God made human beings so that some other points of view other than his own could appreciate the true value and worth of his decision to make such a beautiful reality, with it nearly infinite stars and planets, with its trees and its animals, and most of all, with the sacred nature of human life and experience.

This philosophy is an important bridge between obedience-oriented versions of Christianity from the Medieval ages, toward a new humanistic approach to life and its meaning. Although Pico admits that he personally believes that God is real, he also admits that religion is surprisingly secondary when considered next to what a human could learn about God through their own experience of life. He views life as an art form, and he views the human experience as a kind of divine experience, it seems.

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