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by dr_dshiv 1276 days ago
Cynicism aside, the renaissance was a real phenomenon. Among many other things, Cosimo Medici restarted the Academy, hiring the philosopher Marsilio Ficino to translate Plato (which had been lost to the west for nearly 1000 years), Plotinus, Hermes Trismegistus, etc. The reintroduction of classical ideas and modes of thought had a profound impact on the development of Europe over the next 200 years.

Meanwhile, many of Ficino’s own philosophical books remain untranslated today…

(Btw, if this is anyone else’s interest, I’ve helped to translate Ficino’s philosophy of pleasure: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RZYHWmptuPbpZcUbDdqNvBJD...)