Modernidad y humanismo civil: debates y perspectivas en torno a la tesis de Hans Baron

Abstract

In 1952, Hans Baron finished his most importantwork, The Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance,published in two volumes by Princeton Universityin 1955. In this work, the author expounds on theconcept of “civil humanism” which he uses toanalyze the Florentine humanism of the fifteenthcentury, and in particular, Leonardo Bruni’s work.According to Baron, Florentine humanists, fightingfor Florence’s freedom against the threat ofVisconti’s Milan, developed a novel relationshipbetween intellectualism and politics. Thisintellectual movement also paved the way formodern thought. Baron’s work has been criticallyreviewed many times since then, especially, bythose who vindicated the continuities between theMiddle Ages and the Renaissance as well as by theones who saw the success that The Crisis wasamong American academia and its influence on theconsolidation of the “American Ideology” in acritical way. This article suggests a revision ofBaron’s thesis and the controversies it has caused inorder to outline the possibility of revising theconcept of “Civil Humanism” from Leon BattistaAlberti’s work’s point of view.