Day 54 — The School Of Athens — “Causarum Cognitio”
It’s one of the most famous frescoes of the Italian Renaissance and I’m fairly certain that if you’re skimming through the philosophy section of a library, you’ll find a few books with its image on the cover. It was painted around 1510 by Raphael, and featured in one of the four Raphael Rooms, a suite of reception rooms in the public part of the papal apartments in the Palace of the Vatican.
While it is a work of art in itself, this one of a group of four main frescos that depict branches of knowledge, with the overhead label “Causarum Cognitio” or Knowledge of Causes (although The School of Athens stems from a 17th century guidebook).
There’s a notion that the painting features nearly every great ancient-era philosopher, with Plato and Aristotle in the centre — Plato gestures upwards, as if to the notion of an otherworldly realm, as in the realm of the forms; while Aristotle’s hand indicates perhaps a more grounded, earth-wards gesture in response. Plato is holding his Timeus (in Latin it is Timeo), and Aristotle holds his Ethics (Ethica). Surrounding them are hypothetical representations of other philosophers such as Pythagorus, Euclid, Diogenes and so on, although there is speculation about that as well.
Regardless of the accuracy of what it’s depicting, it’s a striking image and a good introduction to the relationship of Aristotle to Plato’s works, a complementary pair with approaches to philosophy that continued to be learned today.
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