This book presents a philosophical position examined philosophically.
Although it does not go beyond the confines ofFicino's perspective and
is governed by standards of historical accuracy, it makes explicit in
its explanation ofFicino's text the enduring philosophical questions
which are at issue there. True, the book examines in some detail
Ficino's relation to his Platonic and Scholastic sources, and this is an
issue of primary interest to those who study the history of culture or
the his- torical development of philosophy. However, in Ficino's
thought, this issue is also a philosophical issue. Ficino chooses
Platonism as his guide because this philosophy retains an explicit and
essential orientation to religion. When he takes Platonism as the
primary instance of philoso- phy, he is taking a stand on the nature of
philosophy itself. Philosophy necessarily points toward the divinity and
hence is necessarily related to the veneration and worship of its
object. Christian theology joins Platonic philosophy in this movement
toward God, developing more completely the implications of its
fundamental insights. And the 1 "splendor of Christian theology" is
Thomas Aquinas. Therefore, to examine the relationship between Platonism
and Thomism in Ficino's thought is to examine Ficino's position on the
unity of philosophy and theology. Scholars writing about Ficino have
pointed to three major influences on his thought. The influence of Plato
and the neo-Platonists, of course, is readily recognized.