Philosophical research can be done from work of other than from philosophical literature. On the belief that artists have some sort of pure philosophy in mind as the foundation of their creativity, this study is aimed to analize the philosophy in Michael Angelo's works of art, one of the greatest masters of the world. The research is done mainly on Michael Angelo's painting, sculpture, architecture, and partly on criticisms on his work of art. Chapter 2 starts the analysis by proposing the social environment and the philosophical ideas in the time of Michael Angelo, the Reanissance, the time during which Humanism was revived, and generally found in culture, tradition, knowledge and art. The period was originated in Florence. In the 15th century, Florence was deteriorated by its social and depression. The learned and the artists, especially the group of which Michael Angelo was a member, fled from Florence to Rome. As the Pope of the Renaissance were very much interested in, and encouraged the works of art, Rome became the center of European art, Thus the Humanism in Florence and the Christian philosophy in Rome influenced Michael Angelo’s Works of art. Chapter 3 analizes the philosophy and the religion found in Michael Angelo's works of art, which was mainly Neo¬Platonism (Part of Humanism). As for beauty, which may be divided into 2 types:, the sensory beauty and the absolute beauty as source of all beauty in this world. Michael Angelo's belief and faith in Savonarola, a Dominican priest, inspired Michael Angelo to create works art for serving religion. Together with faith in God, Michael Angelo believed that beauty in Plato's philosophy and God in christian religion were not different entities, but they were one and the same: the ultimate reality. Thus Michael Angelo reconciliated these two ideas in his works of art.
This characteristic distinguished him from his contemporary artists who were fond of creating works of art based on only one philosophical idea. Chapter 4 analizes the philosophical ideas in Michael Angelo's main works of art: painting, sculpture and architecture. From the research, we see that most of his works of art (except the sculpture, Bacchus) were based on the story of the New and Old Testaments. Michael Angelo had the idea of creating absolute beauty. If we could reach this beauty, faith would arise and lead us to Heaven, the Kingdom of God, and to be one with Him. To contemplate on beauty is the way of our salvation to the absolute reality, that is God, who is also the Absolute Beauty. The research enables us to see the philosophical ideas in the works of art, and also shows that art could be used as media or tools to explain the philosophical ideas to the public, especially the uneducated, whose chance to learn and understand is limited. People may learn philosophy and practise it in such a way to yield benefits to their society. The result of the research can be summed up as follows: Michael Angelo's works of art reflect Neo-platonism, Christian philosophy and Ethics of the religion. The subject can be separated into 3 points: metaphysics, epistemology and ethics. These appearing in the art form, are more understandable to the people than in the logical form. It indicates that artists have some pure philosophy in mind which might be inspired by the social environments, and by their education. Therefons, Michael Angelo's works of art teach not only morals and ethics, but also answer philosophical problems for the people who have questions in their mind.