Undressing the “True Man”: A Philological Look at Cornelius Agrippa’s Anthropology

Abstract

The author revisits an old scholarly dilemma concerning the thought of Cornelius Agrippa, the famous German humanist and occultist, i.e. the conflict between Christian and heterodox elements in his thought. The author approaches this problem by examining Agrippa’s views on human nature and demonstrates through a philological analysis that the German humanist attempted to integrate the anthropological dualism of Hermetic and Neoplatonic provenance into his understanding of Christianity.

Keywords

• body
• soul
• spirit
• Cornelius Agrippa
• Marsilio Ficino
• De occulta philosophia