Renaissance Thought Research Articles

Reappraisals in Renaissance Thought. Charles B. Schmitt , Charles Webster

<i>Reappraisals in Renaissance Thought</i>. Charles B. Schmitt , Charles Webster

Lorenzo Valla to King Alfonso on the Naming of His Kingdoms: A Translation with Introduction

Lorenzo Valla to King Alfonso on the Naming of His Kingdoms: A Translation with Introduction Lorenzo Valla has for some time been recognized, as William J. Bouwsma puts it, as 'probably the most profound thinker among the humanists of Italy',1 yet relatively litde of his work has been translated into English.2 Furthermore, Valla has recendy become prominent as a Renaissance precursor to some m o d e m approaches to language. Richard W a s w o goes so far as to refer to a 'revolution (that) did not begin with Saussure; ... it is a definitive feature of the Renaissance' - and especially of that archetypical humanist grammarian, Valla.3 Waswo's own major point is that Valla, like Saussure, recognized that 'language and the people w h o use it do not "represent" a reality but constitute one'/* H e is not thefirstEnglish scholar to notice this feature of Valla's work: Donald R. Kelley observed some years ago, while placing Valla prominendy among the foundations of modern historical scholarship, that 'according to Valla it was the forms of grammar that gave meaning to reality... (which) appeared as a human construct'.5 Despite this interest, none of Valla's major grammatical works has been translated - or even appears likely to be translated in the near future.6 It is in the context of this scarcity that the short oration to Alfonso is l The Culture of Renaissance Humanism, American Historical Association Pamphlets, No. 401 (Washington, American Historical Association, 1973). On humanism, see also Paul Oskar Kristeller, Renaissance Thought and Its Sources, ed. Michael Mooney, N e w York, 1979; Hanna H. Gray, Renaissance Humanism and the Pursuit of Eloquence, reprinted in Renaissance Essays from the Journal of the History of Ideas, ed. Paul O. Kristeller and Philip P. Wiener, N e w York, 1968; George M . Logan, Substance and Form in Renaissance Humanism, Journal ofMedieval and Renaissance Studies 1, 1977, 1-34; Tinkler, Renaissance Humanism and the genera eloquentiae, Rhetorica 5, 1987, 32-52. ^ther works available in English translation are: In Praise of Saint Thomas Aquinas, trans. M . Esther Hanley, in Renaissance Philosophy, ed. Leonard A. Kennedy, The Hague, 1973, 31-27; On Pleasure: De voluptate, trans. A. Kent Hieatt and Maristella Lorch, N e w York, 1977; The Treatise of Lorenzo Valla on the Donation of Constantine, trans. Christopher B. Coleman, N e w Haven, 1922; On Free Will, trans. Charles Tiinkaus, in The Renaissance Philosophy of Man, ed. Ernst Cassirer, Paul Oskar Kristeller and John Herman Randall Jr., Chicago, 1948, 147-82; 'The Profession of the Religious' and the Principal Arguments from 'The Falsely-Believed and Forged Donation of Constantine', trans. Olga Zorzi Pugliese, Toronto, 1985. ^Richard Waswo, Language and Meaning in the Renaissance, Princeton, 1987, 13. ^Language and Meaning, 110. 5 Foundations of Modern Historical Scholarship: Language, Law and History in the French Renaissance, N e w York, 1970, 32.°The Profession of the Religious does contain a revealing grammatical argument, however, and the Treatise on the Donation of Constantine is a classic of humanist philological research. Valla on Sicily 103 significant. While it does not present in any systematic way Valla's philosophy of language, it provides a remarkably good example, in a conveniendy narrow compass, of this philosophy in action. The occasion of the oration is apparently simple and minor. A terminology of 'Two Sicilies' had developed to describe Sicily and Naples, and it was to persist, through unions and divisions between the two kingdoms, until 1866. ThetideRex Sicilie citra et ultrafarum ('King of Sicdy this side and that of the lighthouse') had been coined as early as 1303 by Boniface VIII to indicate the union of island and mainland as components of a single kingdom - even though that single kingdom had by then ceased to exist. Storming Naples in 1442, after protracted negotiations and war, Alfonso V reunited the two kingdoms and added to Boniface's coinage the title Rex utriusque Siciliae ('King of the T w o Sicilies'), which was first used in 1443. Despite this nomenclature, however, the two kingdoms remained politically and administratively separate, with no link other than a common sovereign.7 VaUa was a secretary at...

Pomponazzi’s Critique of Aquinas’s Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul

POMPONAZZI'S CRITIQUE OF AQUCNAS'S ARGUMENTS FOR THE :IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL JOHN L. TRELOAR, S.J. Marquette University Milwaukee, Wisconsin I. lntJroWi.wtion IN 'JiHE COURSE of hls discussion on the immortality of the soul, Pietro Pomponazzi systematically critiques the Pfatonic, Avel'IJ'IOist, and Thomistic positions concerning this perennial problem iin the philosophy of human nature. Pomponiazzi's Tractatrus de irnrmortalitate animae 1 is inteirestin !g from three methodological standpoints: (1) the criteria Pomponazzi uses to ev:aluate the various positions, (2) Pomponazzi 's attempt to redefine the probtlem of immortality in fo:gica;l terms, and (8) his analysis of previous positions. In this Renaissance treatise one finds an excellent example of the infliuence of method on the dev:elopment of an idea. This article wiihl eX'amine and ev:aluate Pomponazzi's analy,s:i.s of Thomas A:quiinas's aJ.'gument for the immortality of the soul showing how Pomponazzi''S irefo:rnnula;bion puts the Thomistic argument in a context completely differoort fmm whait Thomas himself intended. Although this ipaper treats a historical pr01blem, its mai:i.n oibject is to show how the fo:tmulation of phifosophical critema and ,questions influences how one handles a topic 1 and 1 The standard Latin text of the Tractatus is: Petrus Pomponatus, Tractatus de immortalitate animae, ed. Gianfranco Morra (Bologna: Nanni and Fiammeghi, 1954). The English translations used in this article are from Ernst Cassirer et al., eds. The Renaissance Philosophy of Man (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948). A complete translation of the Tractatus by William Henry Hay II, revised by John Herman Randall, Jr., and annotated by Paul Oskar Kristeller, appears on pp. 280-381. 458 454 JOHN L. TRELOAR, S.J, what one says about prewous solutions to a problem. This article, then, studies a rphi1osophica1l methodology as much as it arppraises Pomrponazzi and Aquinas.2 Eady in the Tractatus de immortalitate animae Pomponazzi 'es'tia;bJishes the dual cr1iter:ia for judging the adequacy of au p!i.'evious arguments ]or the immortaJl~ty of the ,soul. First, "Leaving aside revefaition and miracles, and remaining entirely within natmal limits," 3 what can be said concerrning the immortality of the soul? Second, "what ... was Aristotle's opin~on on the same question " ?4 These criteria function as the limiting conditions that determine the adequacy of any argument :for immortality; Pomponazzi employs these criteria riJgm~ously to test whether previious a1rguments are adeqU'ate. Pomponazzi's attempt to l'edefine immo:rtality in strictly 1ogicail terms also influences his critique of pl'evious authoi's :and his own generail condusions. He picks u:p Fieino'.s notion that the human being is of an ambiguous nature, that is, part spirit 1and pa:rt oorpore1 al.5 This, of course, is new neither with Ficino nor with Pomponazzi, for the concept of a twofold nature goes hack at least as ia1· as Plwto. Plomponazzi',s use of 1this concept of a twofold nature, however, is unique. He casts the whole 2 In his book Renaissance Thought and Its Sources (New York: Columbia University Press, 1979), Paul Oskar Kristeller says, "Among the many problems and concepts that have occupied the thinkers of the past, and especially those of the Renaissance, the doctrine of immortality seems especially remote from the discussions and concerns of our time" (p. 181). He argues in this essay that, "The problem is still with us, and we may hope that it may yet lead to new answers that are more in accordance with our knowledge and our sensibilities than those transmitted to us by the thinkers of the past, especially those of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries" (p. 196). s "Primum scilicet, quid, revelationibus et miraculis semotis, persistendoque pure infra limites naturales, hac in re sentis." Immortalitate, p. 36 (p. 281). All references to the Traatatus de immortalitate animae will appear in this form. The first page reference is to the Latin text and the page number in parentheses is to the English translation cited above. 4 "Alterum vero, quamnam sententiam Aristotelis in eadem materiam fuisse censes." Imrnortalitate, p. 36 (p. 281). 5 See Marsilius Ficino, " Five Questions Concerning the...

The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature: Patterns, Antecedents, and Repercussions (review)

The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature: Patterns, Antecedents, and Repercussions (review)

Humanism and Dialogue

Humanism and Dialogue It has long been recognized that, as Paul Oskar Kristeller puts it, 'the most extensive and direct expression of the thought of the humanists proper must be sought in . . . their treatises and dialogues'.1 Nevertheless, surprisingly little attention has been paid to Renaissance humanist dialogues in terms of what might be called the sociology of their literary form. Though David Marsh has recently studied the form and themes of quattrocento Italian dialogues, he does not develop for the humanist dialogue the awareness of context that Anthony Kenny and Jan Pinborg develop for medieval phdosophical literature, which they argue 'is closely associated with medieval schools and universities as well as with the material and psychological conditions prevading at these institutions'.2 Yet, in the continuing debate over humanism, the important form of the dialogue, with the clues it gives us of its social milieu, may be extremely revealing. The argument of this paper will be that the humanistic dialogue differs in significant respects from the kinds of dialogue that flourished in scholastic contexts. I shall be concerned with Latin dialogues, and I shall treat scholastic dialogues drawn from die Middle Ages, and humanist dialogues drawn from the Renaissance as ideal types of socio-intellectual activity. M y paper is divided into three sections. In the first, I shall briefly summarize some features of two prevalent forms of scholastic dialogue. In the second, I shall discuss some contrasting features of Renaissance humanist dialogues. In the third, I shall sketch the social milieu that is suggested by the humanists' dialogues. I The question of the social milieu of Renaissance humanism has become pressing in the light of interpretations of medieval scholaticism and humanism, which raises problems for the classic interpretation of Renaissance humanism put forward by Kristeller. Kristeller links the nineteenth-century term 'humanism' to the late Renaissance term humanista, which originated in student slang and which 'designated the professional teacher of the studia humanitatis . . . The old term humanista ... reflects the . . . modest, but correct, contemporary ^Renaissance Thought and Its Sources, ed. Michael Mooney, New York, 1979, 28. 2 D. Marsh, The Quattrocento Dialogue: Classical Tradition and Humanist Innovation, Cambridge, Mass., 1980; Kenny and Pinborg, Medieval Philosophical Literature, in The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy: From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Disintegration of Scholasticism, 1100-1600, ed. N. Kretzmann, A. Kenny and J. Pinborg, Cambridge, 1982, 11. Another recent and valuable study of Humanist dialogues is K.J. Wilson, Incomplete Fictions: The Formation of English Renaissance Dialogue, Washington, DC, 1985, 198 J J7 . Tinkler view that the humanists were the teachers and representatives of a certain branch of learning which at that time was expanding and in vogue, but well limited in its subject matter'. Renaissance humanism, therefore, is just another academic specialization, focussed on the studia humanitatis, which Kristeller calls 'a clearly defined cycle of scholarly disciplines,' comprising grammar, poetry, rhetoric, history and moral philosophy: the relationship between humanism and scholasticism was 'as much a matter of departmental rivalry as it was a clash of opposite ideas or philosophies'. The shortcomings of this picture begin with the nature of scholasticism. As David Knowles observes, 'A "scholastic" was originally one w h o learnt or who taught in a school, specifically in a school of the middle ages, and scholastic philosophy is the kind of philosophy taught in those schools'.4 Thus, for instance, Sten Ebbeson remarks that 'scholastic method was not peculiar to logic, but the twelfth-century renaissance of philosophical studies concentrated on this elementary discipline'.5 It is thus difficult to see how humanism, understood primarily in terms of a clearly defined cycle of scholarly disciplines in the schools and universities, could have been significantly different from scholasticism - except to the extent that, as Richard McKeon argued, there was a shift of emphasis within the Arts course.6 If w e are allowed to trace the term 'scholasticism' beyond the Middle Ages to Antiquity, w e will find Quintilian referring to a student in general - in this case a student of rhetoric - as a scholasticus. 'We have been in a position to acquire varied knowledge, to familiarize ourselves with the principles that should guide our life...

Book Review: The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature: Patterns, Antecedents and Repercussions

Book Review: The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature: Patterns, Antecedents and Repercussions

Premises and Motifs in Renaissance Thought and Literature

In this work C. A. Patrides examines the Renaissance vision of a comely method and proportion" throughout the universe, whether in the vertical arrangement of the created order "from the Mushrome to the Angels" or the horizontal progress of history along a linear path from the Creation to the Last Judgment. Originally published in 1982. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Alchemy and Melancholy in Medieval and Renaissance Thought: a Query into the Mystical Basis of their Relationship

Alchemy and Melancholy in Medieval and Renaissance Thought: a Query into the Mystical Basis of their Relationship

Alchemy and melancholy in medieval and renaissance thought: a query into the mystical basis of their relationship.

Alchemy and melancholy in medieval and renaissance thought: a query into the mystical basis of their relationship.

:The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature

:<i>The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature</i>

:The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature

:<i>The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature</i>

Review: The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature: Patterns, Antecedents and Repercussions

Review: The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature: Patterns, Antecedents and Repercussions

Review: Premises and Motifs in Renaissance Thought and Literature

Review: Premises and Motifs in Renaissance Thought and Literature

Renaissance Thought and Its Sources

Editor's Preface Introduction Part One: Renaissance Thought and Classical Antiquity Introduction 1. The Humanist Movement 2. The Aristotelian Tradition 3. Renaissance Platonism 4. Paganism and Christianity Part Two: Renaissance Thought and the Middle Ages 5. Humanism and Scholasticism in the Italian Renaissance 6. Renaissance Philosophy and the Medieval Tradition Part Three: Renaissance Thought and Byzantine Learning 7. Italian Humanism and Byzantium 8. Byzantine and Western Platonism in the Fifteenth Century Part Four: Renaissance Concepts of Man Introduction 9. The Dignity of Man 10. The Immortality of the Soul 11. The Unity of Truth Part Five: Philosophy and Rhetoric From Antiquity to the Renaissance Introduction 12. Classical Antiquity 13. The Middle Ages 14. The Renaissance Notes Index

Studies in Spanish Renaissance Thought (review)

Studies in Spanish Renaissance Thought (review)

Lorenzo Valla and the Intellectual Origins of Humanist Dialectic

Lorenzo Valla and the Intellectual Origins of Humanist Dialectic* LISA JARDINE FOLLOWING THE IMPORTANT WORK of Hans Baron, discussions of "intellectual origins" in the emergence of humanism have centered on the convictions and ideals associated with the political ferment in Italy in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries ,j Intellectual historians have tended to choose one of two distinct approaches when considering topics in humanism: either they have attempted to map the correspondences between political and social change and changes in attitude characteristic of humanists (for instance, Baron's tracing of Bruni's intellectual development in the face of changes in the Florentine political situation2); or they have concerned themselves with the internal growth within selected specialist fields which humanists , by virtue of their civic role, were chiefly concerned with.3The former approach offers a causal explanation for shifts in interest and attitude; the latter tells us a great deal about what humanism entailed for the development of particular fields of study. What happens as a result of this separation (by the very nature of the differing types of inquiry involved) is that the question ofphilosophical motivation is almost entirely overlooked. Changes in attitude are explained on the one hand as caused by the need to reconcile moral and political theory with changing social realities, and on the other as the direct consequence of cross-correlation of previously separated texts, revisions of manuals, the exigencies of curricula. Yet a recent seminal article by J. E. Seigel has shown that Bruni's "Ciceronianism" may be interpreted more plausibly as a response to his clear understanding of Cicero's intellectual case for a particular relation between rhetoric and moral philosophy, than as the outcome of "civic humanism" in Florence.4In this case, Seigel shows, one may add to previous accounts of the emergence of cinquecento political ideas the humanist intellectual's own growing awareness of the case to be made philosophically for employing the strategies and attitudes of Cicero and the Romans, in preference to those of the scholastics. * I would like to extend grateful thanks to Professors N. Kretzmann, P. O. Kristeller, J. Hutton, C. B. Schmitt and A. T. Grafton, all of whom provided learned and helpful comments on a draft of this paper. I should also like to thank the members of my seminar on humanist dialectic at the Society for the Humanities, Cornell University, who participated in discussions out of which this paper grew. This paper was written during the tenure of a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Society for the Humanities, to the director and staff of which my thanks are due for making the work possible. LSee, for instance, H. Baron, The Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance, 2 vols. (Princeton, 1955; revised ed. 1966), and Humanistic and Political Literature in Florence and Venice at the Beginning of the Quattrocento (Cambridge, Mass., 1955). 2Baron, Crisis. 3On the relation between the role occupied by humanists in society and their fields of contribution see P. O. Kristeller, Renaissance Thought, 2 vols. (New York, 1961, 1965). 4"'Civic Humanism' or Ciceronian Rhetoric?" Past and Present, 34 (1966), 3-48. [1431 144 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY In the case of studies of humanist dialectic the effect of the separation of intellectual stimulus (the social and political climate) and internal development (the relation of one innovative text to the next) has had particularly striking consequences. The starting point for the flourishing discussions of the genealogy of textbook modifications has been the assumption that rhetoric (or "rhetoricized" dialectic) was more useful, politically and socially, than scholastic logic, and hence the natural focus of interest for humanist dialecticians. It is generally accepted that humanists instigated a movement of corruption of "genuine" logic, replacing it by a debased rhetorical study of little historical importance--an interregnum in the history of logic. 5 Now, historically, this is very odd. The new logic curriculum devised by humanists like Lorenzo Valla and Rudolph Agricola (at whose door logicians like the Kneales lay most of the blame for the degeneration of logic proper 6) displaced almost entirely the "genuine" logic of high scholasticism by 1530. It dominated logic teaching throughout northern Europe until the eighteenth century. While, as...

"Studies in Spanish Renaissance Thought," by Carlos G. Norena

"Studies in Spanish Renaissance Thought," by Carlos G. Norena

The Pursuit of Holiness in Late Medieval and Renaissance Thought. Charles Trinkaus , Heiko Oberman

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsThe Pursuit of Holiness in Late Medieval and Renaissance Thought. Charles Trinkaus , Heiko Oberman Julius KirshnerJulius Kirshner Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Modern History Volume 47, Number 4Dec., 1975 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/241376 Views: 2Total views on this site Citations: 2Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1975 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Edward Muir Italy in the No Longer Forgotten Centuries, I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance 16, no.1/21/2 (Jul 2015): 5–11.https://doi.org/10.1086/673415 Melissa Meriam Bullard , S. R. Epstein , Benjamin G. Kohl , and Susan Mosher Stuard Where History and Theory Interact: Frederic C. Lane on the Emergence of Capitalism, Speculum 79, no.11 (Oct 2015): 88–119.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0038713400094744

Was Copernicus' Revolutions Approved by the Pope?

Renaissance may be regarded as the historical movement that initiated the trend of modern society toward secularism. As the humanist attitude spread, lay contributors to culture became more influential than they had been when clerics were dominant. Nevertheless, the cloistered clergy's participation in various humanist activities was far from negligible. requisite assessment of The Contribution of Religious Orders to Renaissance Thought and Learning was recently begun by Paul Oskar Kristeller.1 His selective list of humanistically productive monks and friars included the name of Giovanni Maria Tolosani, a member of the Dominican Order. exact date of Tolosani's birth is not known. Descended from a Tuscan

John W. O’Malley, Giles of Viterbo on Church and Reform: A Study in Renaissance Thought

John W. O’Malley, Giles of Viterbo on Church and Reform: A Study in Renaissance Thought