From the book
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordPraescientia and praevisio concern knowledge or foresight of what is future; praevidere is to foresee.
- In the Platonic TheologyForeknowledge is God's knowledge of future events, including their causes and modes of occurrence.
- In this editionII.13.25 says conditional necessity “confirms” the known free mode.
- A place to readKnowing is distinguished from willing, and foresight includes causes and voluntary modes.
Meaning
Praescientia and praevisio concern knowledge or foresight of what is future; praevidere is to foresee. Scire and velle remain distinct: knowing an object need not produce it simply by knowing.
Use in the book
Foreknowledge is God's knowledge of future events, including their causes and modes of occurrence. Ficino's distinction between knowing and willing does important work here: if mere knowledge produced its object, God would produce all known things together and also produce evil. Will, rather than knowledge by itself, accounts for external production.
The issue of human freedom is addressed by specifying what is foreknown. God does not know merely that a person will perform an act; he also knows that the person performs it voluntarily and freely. If the supposition of divine foreknowledge makes the event necessary, Ficino argues, that same supposition confirms the event's free mode. Thus he distinguishes a necessity conditional on what is known from a compulsion imposed on the acting soul. This is the argument offered by the text, not an independently demonstrated solution to all problems of foreknowledge. The following appeal to God's preservation of each nature reinforces it: rational souls retain deliberation and judgment because governance operates through their proper capacities.
Places to read
- II.13.24–252Knowing is distinguished from willing, and foresight includes causes and voluntary modes.
- II.13.26–272Governance preserves proper natures and is described as persuasion rather than compulsion for souls.
- II.13.30The soul retains deliberation and comparative judgement about acts.
Translation in this edition
II.13.25 says conditional necessity “confirms” the known free mode. Present this as Ficino’s proposed reconciliation, preserving both the conditional clause and voluntarie libereque; the passage does not define freedom as absence of divine knowledge.
modus
modus. Printed forms: modique; modum; modus.
Manner, mode, or measure. Foreknowledge includes how an act happens, so a known free action is not stripped of its free mode. References: II.13.25. See Foreknowledge.
praescientia / praevisio
praescientia / praevisio. Printed forms: praescientia; praevisio.
Foreknowledge / foresight. The foreknown content includes causes and free modes of acting, not events stripped of their manner of occurrence. References: II.13.25. See Foreknowledge.
scribere
scribere. Printed forms: scripti.
Write or inscribe. Future events are metaphorically inscribed in divine foreknowledge; the surrounding argument includes their causes and modes. References: II.13.25. See Foreknowledge.