Portrait of the Humanist as Proteus

Is the perfection of a being a result of its perfectibility, that is to say its imperfection? Is the greatness of a human being a function of how much he is a man in the making? Can the human being elude all determination in order to construct itself freely or, at the very least, expose itself to an infinite number of potential destinies? This dream of absolute freedom was at times the humanists' dream. The following paper will try to show that behind the Renaissance philosophy of existence lay the principles of incompletion and transformation; that these principles were the source both of the power of Renaissance philosophy and also of its irresolution, which is what places it on the threshold of modernity

Art · Art history · Biology · Humanism · Portrait · Proteus · Theology · Historical Philosophy and Science · Medieval Philosophy and Theology · Philosophy · Renaissance and Early Modern Studies