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Fortune in Renaissance Philosophy

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Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy

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Abstract

Renaissance thinking on fortune is complex and expressed as often in symbol as through concepts. Drawing on a range of classical, Patristic, and medieval sources, writers articulated fortune both more abstractly in terms of its place in a metaphysical ontological hierarchy and more concretely with respect to the immediate conditions of life that tested one’s virtue. For each of these viewpoints, fortune connoted favorable or adverse circumstance as well as mutability and temporality. In the course of the Renaissance, thinkers focused more intensely on how virtues and moral freedom were secured by reason against fortune’s sway. Toward the close of the period, this focus shifted to the nonrational and amoral qualities required to contest fortune’s influence.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guilford College, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Timothy Kircher

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  1. Timothy Kircher
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Correspondence to Timothy Kircher .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Philosophy a. Cultural Heritage, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia Dept. of Philosophy a. Cultural Heritage, Venezia, Italy

    Marco Sgarbi

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Kircher, T. (2019). Fortune in Renaissance Philosophy. In: Sgarbi, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_194-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_194-2

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02848-4

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Fortune in Renaissance Philosophy
    Published:
    16 October 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_194-2

  2. Original

    Fortune
    Published:
    23 December 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_194-1

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