Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (24 February 1463 – 17 November 1494) was an Italian humanist and thinker.

He is especially known for the events that occurred in 1486, when, at the age of twenty-three, he set out to defend against every opponent 900 thesis of religion, philosophy, philosophy of nature and magic. To this end he wrote the Oratio de hominis dignitate, which has been designated as a "manifesto of the Renaissance", and constitutes a fundamental text of Renaissance humanism, as well as the so-called "hermetic reform". He was also one of the first authors to push the Kabbala beyond Jewish circles, becoming founder of the Christian Kabbale.