Humanism, Ch. 3 Flashcards
Humanism disapproves of
Dissaproves of the ignorance, indignity, injustice, and inhumanity of the “Dark Ages”
Main concerns of humanism
Concerned with church corruption, dogma (reliance on a small number of definitive texts rather than allowing people in society to think about issues outside the formal structure set by the church), concerned about the contemplative lives monks lived and they isolated themselves without providing real service
Humanism, active public service
ACTIVE PUBLIC SERVICE: church and educated members of society should have active governance Because of the power the church had, there was not a lot of active participation by nobles and gentry (informed citizenry)
Middle Age
was used to describe the existence between two great civilizations: derogatory term to describe the society in which they were living that was not as enlightened as the society they prefered (a return to the classical period) and not as enlightened as the society that would emerge after the Middle Ages (
Classical Period:
Greek philosophy, Arisottle, Plato, Livy, Cicero, Tactitus (wished to recover classical ideals regarding religion, poltiics, scholarship ALL OF WHICH WERE SURPRESSED BY THE CHURCH because the majority of this work was done by pagans)
Livy/Cicero/Tacitus: i
important in law
Humanists, The New Learning vs. Scholasticism
Current form of learning was scholasticism: old learning based on clergy memorizing, copying, and summariizng authorized texts (DID NOT ALLOW PLATO, ARISTOTLE, ETC)
Studia Humanitatis: advocated for the study of humanities;m promote gentlemen going into university not only to become members of the clergy, but to gain the knowledge needed to actively participate in society
Humanism and religion
Advocated for recovery of writings of Church Fathers which focused on humanity and salvation (people who built the Christian religion in 1st and 2nd centuries before it was “corrupted” by dogma and superstition)
Father of Humanism, Francesco Petrarcha, 1304-1374
F
ather of humanism, Italian
Living in France during the Black Death (seeing significant concerns about mortality and the inability of the church to respond)
Lived in France during the Avaneal Papacy: period of corruption/significant criticism of the Catholic Church
Previously an ordained member of the church: rejected this to accept humanism
Francesco Petrarcha, Written Works
Wrote Letters to the Ancient Dead: HUMANISTIC DIALECTIC TRADITION, involves a series of questions and answers (asking questions of the ancient dead like Livy and Cicerol and responding to these questions using these authors works)
Letters and Biographies about classical politicians and hisyorians and poets
Lives of Industrious Men:
and Letters to Laura: about a beautiful woman named Laura who was already married, refused his advances, in order to demonstrate platonic love for her he wrote this series of letters that he could still love her from a distance without needing a physical relationship with her (Laura died in 1348 of Bubonic Plague; motivated him even further to reject church and and inhumanity)
Difference between Catholic interpretation of man and Chaucer/Boccacio’s interpretation
Catholic church emphasized the perfection of man as made in the image of God: Chaucer and Boccacio suggested there was beauty in man’s flaws
Lorenzo Valla and Elegances of Latin
(emphasizes the need for true historical scholarship using proper classical latin, rather than the Catholic church’s form of inferior latin)
Desiderius Erasmus, Christian Humanism (
Founder of Christian Humanism: ties to the Lollardy and Hussite movement of religion in the “vernacular”, church needs to be more individual, accessible, spiritual, and doesn’t need to be mediated by the Catholicb Church
satirized superstition which charachteried Catholic church
Argued against witchcraft and supernatural events
Criticized the clergy as not being well-trained for their work: clergy are ignorant and this results in corruption of the church and society
Erasmus recovered a Greek version of the New Testament, which was considered more superior: HIGHLY CRITICAL OF THE VULGATE BIBLE
Saint Thomas More, Civic Humanism, EARLY Communism in book Utopia
Emphasis on duty of citizens to participate in public affairs, emphasis on civic service
Was a member of the clergy, but instead chose to pursue law:
Comes from a very poor background, but his intellect was recognized as superior and given “Poor Boy’s Scholarship” to study humanities at the university
^^This demonstrates that he didn’t have to be born of the nobility to be active citizen in society
Became Lord Chancellor of England under King Henry the 8th
EARLY COMMUNIST WORK Utopia: criticized political, social, and legal injustices in society by creating a fictional society and showing how the world could be different with humanistic education, active public service, and if monarchy and clergy and nobility were willing to share property with the people
Niccolo Machiavelli, Machiavellism, Rise of the Nation State
Oligarchy and republicanism
Secular state run by skilled men
Produced a series of discourses on Livy: advocated for secular government run by skilled men, should be a republican system run by the elites in society but still allowed citizens to be involved as active servants
