The Renaissance, that is, the period that extends roughly from the
middle of the fourteenth century to the beginning of the seventeen century, was
a time of intense, all-encompassing, and, in many ways, distinctive
philosophical activity. A fundamental assumption of the Renaissance movement
was that the remains of classical antiquity constituted an invaluable source of
excellence to which debased and decadent modern times could turn in order to
repair the damage brought about since the fall of the Roman Empire. It was
often assumed that God had given a single unified truth to humanity and that
the works of ancient philosophers had preserved part of this original deposit
of divine wisdom. This idea not only laid the foundation for a scholarly
culture that was centered on ancient texts and their interpretation, but also
fostered an approach to textual interpretation that strove to harmonize and
reconcile divergent philosophical accounts. Stimulated by newly available
texts, one of the most important hallmarks of Renaissance philosophy is the
increased interest in primary sources of Greek and Roman thought, which were
previously unknown or little read. The renewed study of Neoplatonism, Stoicism,
Epicureanism, and Skepticism eroded faith in the universal truth of
Aristotelian philosophy and widened the philosophical horizon, providing a rich
seedbed from which modern science and modern philosophy gradually emerged.
Humanism
The humanist movement did not eliminate older approaches to philosophy,
but contributed to change them in important ways, providing new information and
new methods to the field. Humanists called for a radical change of philosophy
and uncovered older texts that multiplied and hardened current philosophical
discord. Some of the most salient features of humanist reform are the accurate
study of texts in the original languages, the preference for ancient authors
and commentators over medieval ones, and the avoidance of technical language in
the interest of moral suasion and accessibility. Humanists stressed moral
philosophy as the branch of philosophical studies that best met their needs.
They addressed a general audience in an accessible manner and aimed to bring
about an increase in public and private virtue. Regarding philosophy as a
discipline allied to history, rhetoric, and philology, they expressed little
interest in metaphysical or epistemological questions. Logic was subordinated
to rhetoric and reshaped to serve the purposes of persuasion.
One of the seminal figures of the humanist movement was Francesco
Petrarca (1304–1374). In De sui ipsius et multorum aliorum ignorantia (On His
Own Ignorance and That of Many Others), he elaborated what was to become the
standard critique of Scholastic philosophy. One of his main objections to
Scholastic Aristotelianism is that it is useless and ineffective in achieving
the good life. Moreover, to cling to a single authority when all authorities
are unreliable is simply foolish. He especially attacked, as opponents of
Christianity, Aristotle’s commentator Averroes and contemporary Aristotelians
that agreed with him. Petrarca returned to a conception of philosophy rooted in
the classical tradition, and from his time onward, when professional humanists
took interest in philosophy, they nearly always concerned themselves with
ethical questions. Among those he influenced were Coluccio Salutati
(1331–1406), Leonardo Bruni (c.1370–1444) and Poggio Bracciolini (1380–1459),
all of whom promoted humanistic learning in distinctive ways.
One of the most original and important humanists of the Quattrocento was
Lorenzo Valla (1406–1457). His most influential writing was Elegantiae linguae
Latinae (Elegances of the Latin Language), a handbook of Latin language and
style. He is also famous for having demonstrated, on the basis of linguistic
and historical evidence, that the so-called Donation of Constantine, on which
the secular rule of the papacy was based, was an early medieval forgery. His
main philosophical work is Repastinatio dialecticae et philosophiae
(Reploughing of Dialectic and Philosophy), an attack on major tenets of
Aristotelian philosophy. The first book deals with the criticism of fundamental
notions of metaphysics, ethics, and natural philosophy, while the remaining two
books are devoted to dialectics.
Throughout the fifteenth and early sixteenth century, humanists were
unanimous in their condemnation of university education and their contempt for
Scholastic logic. Humanists such as Valla and Rudolph Agricola (1443–1485),
whose main work is De inventione dialectica (On Dialectical Invention, 1479),
set about to replace the Scholastic curriculum, based on syllogism and
disputation, with a treatment of logic oriented toward the use of persuasion
and topics, a technique of verbal association aiming at the invention and
organization of material for arguments. According to Valla and Agricola,
language is primarily a vehicle for communication and debate, and consequently
arguments should be evaluated in terms of how effective and useful they are
rather than in terms of formal validity. Accordingly, they subsumed the study
of the Aristotelian theory of inference under a broader range of forms of
argumentation. This approach was taken up and developed in various directions
by later humanists, such as Mario Nizolio (1488–1567), Juan Luis Vives
(1493–1540), and Petrus Ramus (1515–1572).
Vives was a Spanish-born humanist who spent the greater part of his life
in the Low Countries. He aspired to replace the Scholastic tradition in all
fields of learning with a humanist curriculum inspired by education in the
classics. In 1519, he published In Pseudodialecticos (Against the
Pseudodialecticians), a satirical diatribe against Scholastic logic in which he
voices his opposition on several counts. A detailed criticism can be found in
De disciplinis (On the Disciplines, 1531), an encyclopedic work divided into
three parts: De causis corruptarum artium (On the Causes of the Corruption of
the Arts), a collection of seven books devoted to a thorough critique of the
foundations of contemporary education; De tradendis disciplinis (On Handing
Down the Disciplines), five books where Vives’s educational reform is outlined;
and De artibus (On the Arts), five shorter treatises that deal mainly with
logic and metaphysics. Another area in which Vives enjoyed considerable success
was psychology. His reflections on the human soul are mainly concentrated in De
anima et vita (On the Soul and Life, 1538), a study of the soul and its
interaction with the body, which also contains a penetrating analysis of the
emotions.
Ramus was another humanist who criticized the shortcomings of
contemporary teaching and advocated a humanist reform of the arts curriculum.
His textbooks were the best sellers of their day and were very influential in
Protestant universities in the later
sixteenth century. In 1543, he published Dialecticae partitiones (The Structure
of Dialectic), which in its second edition was called Dialecticae institutiones
(Training in Dialectic), and Aristotelicae animadversions (Remarks on
Aristotle). These works gained him a reputation as a virulent opponent of
Aristotelian philosophy. He considered his own dialectics, consisting of
invention and judgment, to be applicable to all areas of knowledge, and he
emphasised the need for learning to be comprehensible and useful, with a
particular stress on the practical aspects of mathematics. His own reformed
system of logic reached its definitive form with the publication of the third
edition of Dialectique (1555).
Humanism also supported Christian reform. The most important Christian
humanist was the Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus (c.1466–1536). He was hostile
to Scholasticism, which he did not consider a proper basis for Christian life,
and put his erudition at the service of religion by promoting learned piety
(docta pietas). In 1503, he published Enchiridion militis christiani (Handbook
of the Christian Soldier), a guide to the Christian life addressed to laymen in
need of spiritual guidance, in which he developed the concept of a philosophia
Christi. His most famous work is Moriae encomium (The Praise of Folly), a
satirical monologue first published in 1511 that touches upon a variety of
social, political, intellectual, and religious issues. In 1524, he published De
libero arbitrio (On Free Will), an open attack a one central doctrine of Martin
Luther’s theology: that the human will is enslaved by sin. Erasmus’s analysis
hinges on the interpretation of relevant biblical and patristic passages and reaches
the conclusion that the human will is extremely weak, but able, with the help
of divine grace, to choose the path of salvation.
Humanism also had an impact of overwhelming importance on the
development of political thought. With Institutio principis christiani (The
Education of a Christian Prince, 1516), Erasmus contributed to the popular
genre of humanist advice books for princes. These manuals dealt with the proper
ends of government and how best to attain them. Among humanists of the
fourteenth century, the most usual proposal was that a strong monarchy should
be the best form of government. Petrarca, in his account of princely government
that was written in 1373 and took the form of a letter to Francesco da Carrara,
argued that cities ought to be governed by princes who accept their office
reluctantly and who pursue glory through virtuous actions. His views were
repeated in quite a few of the numerous “mirror for princes” (speculum
principis) composed during the course of the fifteenth century, such as
Giovanni Pontano’s De principe (On the Prince, 1468) and Bartolomeo Sacchi’s De
principe (On the Prince, 1471).
Several authors exploited the tensions within the genre of “mirror for
princes” in order to defend popular regimes. In Laudatio florentinae urbis
(Panegyric of the City of Florence), Bruni maintained that justice can only be
assured by a republican constitution. In his view, cities must be governed
according to justice if they are to become glorious, and justice is impossible
without liberty.
The most important text to challenge the assumptions of princely
humanism, however, was Il principe (The Prince), written by the Florentine
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) in 1513, but not published until 1532. A
fundamental belief among the humanists was that a ruler needs to cultivate a
number of qualities, such as justice and other moral values, in order to
acquire honour, glory, and fame. Machiavelli deviated from this view claiming
that justice has no decisive place in politics. It is the ruler’s prerogative
to decide when to dispense violence and practice deception, no matter how
wicked or immoral, as long as the peace of the city is maintained and his share
of glory maximized. Machiavelli did not hold that princely regimes were
superior to all others. In his less famous, but equally influential, Discorsi
sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio (Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus
Livy, 1531), he offers a defense of popular liberty and republican government
that takes the ancient republic of Rome as its model.
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