Giorno di #mercato a #celenza

One of the most striking conversations we had was about the attempt to reach God-like status through science (knowledge). In one of our readings, Celenza states, “the two fountainheads of ancient philosophy agreed: the realm of the divine and the realm of the human are different, and one of the best tasks for the human being was ‘to become like a god’ as Plato would have it, or with Aristotle, ‘to put on immortality.’”  I can see this argument played out in Raphael’s work in the Pope’s library.

In the Stanza della Segnatura, Raphael juxtaposes philosophy and theology. By placing the two frescoes across from each other, he is making a statement about their close relationship. In School of Athens, Raphael paints Plato and Aristotle walking together beneath the arches of Rome. The two men serve as the piece’s vanishing point, emphasizing how their theories and importance serve as a basis for all thought. Raphael puts philosophers from different time periods in conversation with one another; this provides a visual representation of the knowledge that is building upon itself from Antiquity through the Renaissance.  School of Athens shows that there is power and progress in combining schools of thought. 

Disputa, on the other hand, embodies what Celenza is stating: pursuing knowledge will bring you closer to becoming God. Each tier of figures in the work has a higher status, a deeper knowledge of things like philosophy and theology, and is physically closer to God. Figures like Dante and Augustine are shown on the ground level, with Augustine raising his hand up to point towards God. I interpret this as him verifying that more knowledge will help one attain a status with higher power.