Rethinking Virtue, Reforming Society: New Directions in Renaissance Ethics, c. 1350–c. 1650 ed. by David A. Lines and Sabrina Ebbersmeyer (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Rethinking Virtue, Reforming Society: New Directions in Renaissance Ethics, c. 1350–c. 1650 ed. by David A. Lines and Sabrina Ebbersmeyer W. R. Albury Lines, David A. and Sabrina Ebbersmeyer, eds, Rethinking Virtue, Reforming Society: New Directions in Renaissance Ethics, c. 1350–c. 1650 (Cursor Mundi, 3), Turnhout, Brepols, 2013; cloth; pp. ix, 351; R.R.P. €80.00; ISBN 9782503525242. Taking the period of the Renaissance in a broad sense, roughly from the time of Petrarch to that of the neo-Stoics and the flourishing Jesuit colleges, this collection of essays emphasises the diversity of early modern ethical discourse prior to the Cartesian break with classical philosophy. Alongside an ongoing interest in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, with new translations of and commentaries on this work appearing regularly, the Renaissance era also saw the revival of Platonic doctrines of the best life, the rehabilitation of Epicurean ethical views, and finally the development of new forms of Christian Stoicism. Rethinking Virtue, Reforming Society provides an introductory survey of this diversification of theoretical content in comparison with the late Middle Ages. It also gives much needed attention to the proliferation of new locations, literary genres, and languages in which ethical matters were regularly treated – no longer predominantly in university settings and the studia of religious orders but increasingly in courts and academies; nor predominantly in Latin commentaries on ancient texts but now in vernacular dialogues, novellas, essays, biographies, and even commonplace books. The various chapters in this collection frequently cross-reference one another but otherwise are written in such a way that they can be read in isolation. An approach of this kind leads to some repetition of content and documentation, as the same background information appears in several different places and each chapter has its own independent bibliography that sometimes overlaps in part with other bibliographies, but overall the inconvenience to the reader is minor. Equally minor are a number of slips that are unlikely to mislead specialists but could easily confuse those new to the field, such as the conflation of civic humanism with princely humanism in the book’s Introduction. The contributors include authors from Finland, Germany, and Italy, as well as from the UK and the US, but all chapters are in English. Thus the collection provides Anglophone readers with a good sample of continental [End Page 228] scholarship alongside the more readily accessible British and American variety. The book concludes with a brief epilogue, which foreshadows the changes in ethical discourse that were to take place in the second half of the seventeenth century. It also has a useful index, something that is to be commended since this kind of scholarly apparatus is not always included in multi-authored volumes. W. R. Albury The University of New England Copyright © 2014 W. R. Albury