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New Approaches to European History #6
Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe
In this updated edition of his classic account, Charles Nauert charts the rise of humanism as the distinctive culture of the social, political and intellectual elites in Renaissance Europe. He traces humanism's emergence in the unique social and cultural conditions of fourteenth-century Italy and its gradual diffusion throughout the rest of Europe. He shows how, despite its elitist origins, humanism became a major force in the popular culture and fine arts of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the powerful impact it had on both the Protestant and Catholic Reformations. He uses art and biographical sketches of key figures to illuminate the narrative and concludes with an account of the limitations of humanism at the end of the Renaissance. The revised edition includes a section dealing with the place of women in humanistic culture and an updated bibliography. It will be essential reading for all students of Renaissance Europe.
266 pages, Paperback
First published September 29, 1995
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December 29, 2013
I've read a decent bit about humanism and the Renaissance, but it's been almost entirely via very specific monographs, and this was a nice way of zooming out to look at the big picture. I think it would also work very well as a general introduction to intellectual currents of the period for any one that's interested.
Nauert follows the work of Paul Oskar Kristeller in his insistence that humanism was not a philosophy that emerged to do battle with scholasticism: it wasn't a philosophy at all, and didn't bother much with the discipline. Instead, it was the emergence of a new world view - very nebulous and never possessing any clear or cohesive goals - that aimed to revitalize the world through the rediscovery of a murky, idealized Antiquity. In practice, this meant the rejection of the traditional medieval disciplines of natural science and theology - disciplines based on certainty - and an embrace of disciplines like rhetoric, grammar, and moral philosophy. These subjects, unlike their medieval predecessors, were ideal for civic involvement and for making decisions based on probability rather than certainty. Where a scholastic education aimed to allow one to explain the workings of the world and divinity, a humanist education allowed one to make successful and practical decisions when faced with political, social, and economic problems. Because of this, Nauert argues, it was unsurprising that humanism first took off in republican Florence before morphing into an ideology that fit more comfortably in princely courts.
The work gives an account of 15th century Italian humanism and Neoplatonism before exploring the effects of the printing press, the gradual trickle of humanist ideas over the Alps (particular attention is given to German humanists like Celtis & Reuchlin, as well as Erasmus), and how it changed over the course of the Reformation. It ends with a thematic section about the impact of the Reformation that stresses the conservative nature of most humanists and underlines the fact that while humanists ideas may have unintentionally paved the way, the Scientific Revolution was not a creature of the Renaissance or of humanism.
It's a great intro book, and the first and last chapters are especially good. Humanism is usually a very fuzzily-defined word, and this work is valuable for providing a good idea of what it was and what it was not. It's middle sections, which focus on individual humanists in various areas, can occasionally feel a little muddled or like a list of names, and that's sometimes made worse by the fact that it's lacking any sort of primary source material. But it does have a pretty good bibliography/guide to further reading and covers an impressively wide geographic range for such a small book.
Nauert follows the work of Paul Oskar Kristeller in his insistence that humanism was not a philosophy that emerged to do battle with scholasticism: it wasn't a philosophy at all, and didn't bother much with the discipline. Instead, it was the emergence of a new world view - very nebulous and never possessing any clear or cohesive goals - that aimed to revitalize the world through the rediscovery of a murky, idealized Antiquity. In practice, this meant the rejection of the traditional medieval disciplines of natural science and theology - disciplines based on certainty - and an embrace of disciplines like rhetoric, grammar, and moral philosophy. These subjects, unlike their medieval predecessors, were ideal for civic involvement and for making decisions based on probability rather than certainty. Where a scholastic education aimed to allow one to explain the workings of the world and divinity, a humanist education allowed one to make successful and practical decisions when faced with political, social, and economic problems. Because of this, Nauert argues, it was unsurprising that humanism first took off in republican Florence before morphing into an ideology that fit more comfortably in princely courts.
The work gives an account of 15th century Italian humanism and Neoplatonism before exploring the effects of the printing press, the gradual trickle of humanist ideas over the Alps (particular attention is given to German humanists like Celtis & Reuchlin, as well as Erasmus), and how it changed over the course of the Reformation. It ends with a thematic section about the impact of the Reformation that stresses the conservative nature of most humanists and underlines the fact that while humanists ideas may have unintentionally paved the way, the Scientific Revolution was not a creature of the Renaissance or of humanism.
It's a great intro book, and the first and last chapters are especially good. Humanism is usually a very fuzzily-defined word, and this work is valuable for providing a good idea of what it was and what it was not. It's middle sections, which focus on individual humanists in various areas, can occasionally feel a little muddled or like a list of names, and that's sometimes made worse by the fact that it's lacking any sort of primary source material. But it does have a pretty good bibliography/guide to further reading and covers an impressively wide geographic range for such a small book.
January 16, 2021
I thought this was an excellent book that didn’t read like a textbook. It didn’t oversimplify the divisions between medieval, Renaissance and reformation.
December 14, 2022
Avrupa'da Hümanizma ve Rönesans Kültürü üzerine detaylı bir eserdir. Dili gayet anlaşılır ve sadedir. Düşünce tarihinin önemli bu noktası üzerine mutlaka bir şeyler okumak gerekir. Ve bu eseri öneririm bu konuda.
June 13, 2016
Very solid overview of the field complemented by a helpful bibliographical essay (through 2006).
Nauert conceives of humanism as a reorientation of European intellectual culture in which certain disciplines (the studia humanitatis) were revitalized by a new vision of history in which the newly coined Middle Ages had to be bypassed in order to bring ancient wisdom into the present. Denying that humanism entailed a specific philosophical program (per Kristeller), Nauert nevertheless asserts that its mindset was characterized by a turn from metaphysics to morals, from speculative thought to preparation for ethical action in society. He retains Petrarch as the founder of humanism while acknowledging proto-humanists. He knows that Baron's "civic republicanism" thesis has been debunked, but he still takes pains wherever possible to draw connections between Italian humanism and flourishing republics. (Perhaps it would be better to focus on the non-feudal and non-clerical culture of Italy's cities than republicanism per se.)
Northern humanism is explained primarily a diffusion of Italian culture, despite isolated classicists with in other nations. He acknowledges that humanism enabled the Protestant Reformation without claiming that it inevitably led there. Perhaps even more importantly, he shows that the Reformation did not kill humanism, which suffused the educational institutions of the sixteenth century without ever fully displacing Aristotle or the basic structure of the medieval university. In the "late Renaissance" (no exact time given) two trends are highlighted: the growth of professional philological scholarship and the diffusion of classical texts and themes into the vernacular. Humanism wanes as the failure to find truth and harmony in ancient texts led to a renewal of skepticism, then to philosophies such as Descartes' and Bacon's, which focused less on accruing yesterday's knowledge than on the possibility of tomorrow's discoveries.
I was pleased with the book's style, organization, and content. I do wish there had been a bit more biblical humanism, which tends to be left unfairly to the side in introductory books. We hear about Luther, Melanchthon, and Erasmus, then little else, despite the fact that those men were merely pioneers of the activity that consumed the majority of European scholarship for the next two centuries at least.
Nauert conceives of humanism as a reorientation of European intellectual culture in which certain disciplines (the studia humanitatis) were revitalized by a new vision of history in which the newly coined Middle Ages had to be bypassed in order to bring ancient wisdom into the present. Denying that humanism entailed a specific philosophical program (per Kristeller), Nauert nevertheless asserts that its mindset was characterized by a turn from metaphysics to morals, from speculative thought to preparation for ethical action in society. He retains Petrarch as the founder of humanism while acknowledging proto-humanists. He knows that Baron's "civic republicanism" thesis has been debunked, but he still takes pains wherever possible to draw connections between Italian humanism and flourishing republics. (Perhaps it would be better to focus on the non-feudal and non-clerical culture of Italy's cities than republicanism per se.)
Northern humanism is explained primarily a diffusion of Italian culture, despite isolated classicists with in other nations. He acknowledges that humanism enabled the Protestant Reformation without claiming that it inevitably led there. Perhaps even more importantly, he shows that the Reformation did not kill humanism, which suffused the educational institutions of the sixteenth century without ever fully displacing Aristotle or the basic structure of the medieval university. In the "late Renaissance" (no exact time given) two trends are highlighted: the growth of professional philological scholarship and the diffusion of classical texts and themes into the vernacular. Humanism wanes as the failure to find truth and harmony in ancient texts led to a renewal of skepticism, then to philosophies such as Descartes' and Bacon's, which focused less on accruing yesterday's knowledge than on the possibility of tomorrow's discoveries.
I was pleased with the book's style, organization, and content. I do wish there had been a bit more biblical humanism, which tends to be left unfairly to the side in introductory books. We hear about Luther, Melanchthon, and Erasmus, then little else, despite the fact that those men were merely pioneers of the activity that consumed the majority of European scholarship for the next two centuries at least.
August 9, 2008
A cultural history, obviously, by a specialist on northern Europe, written primarily for an undergraduate and general audience. A sound overview with an extremely useful and fairly comprehensive bibliographical essay at the end, although those seeking more detailed information on Italy will want to look elsewhere. Women don't appear much in the book, either, and they should.
The "New Approaches" series from Cambridge offers a lot of good titles, all of them written by respected scholars. Neither textbooks nor popular accounts written by journalists, they make for excellent introductory reading.
The "New Approaches" series from Cambridge offers a lot of good titles, all of them written by respected scholars. Neither textbooks nor popular accounts written by journalists, they make for excellent introductory reading.
January 22, 2024
This book speaks of Humanism.
Generally spelt, Humanism is a philosophical and ethical deportment that emphasises the value and agency of human beings, separately and communally, and normally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over unthinking, acceptance of dogma or superstition.
The meaning of the term humanism has fluctuated according to the successive intellectual movements which have identified with it. Generally, however, humanism refers to a point of view that affirms some conception of human liberty and advancement.
In modern times, humanist movements are characteristically aligned with secularism.
The word "Humanism" is eventually derived from the Latin concept ‘humanitas’, and like most other words ending in ‘ism’, entered English in the 19th century.
However, historians have the same opinion that the notion predates the label invented to describe it, encompassing the assortment of meanings ascribed to ‘humanitas’, which included munificence, both towards one's fellow human and the values imparted by ‘bonal litteral’ or human learning (plainly "good letters").
Into the following chapters the book has been divided:
1) The birth of humanist culture
2) Humanism becomes dominant
3) Humanism and Italian society
4) Crossing the Alps
5) Triumph and disaster
6) Humanism in the late Renaissance
7) The end of an age
“This book aims to present an inclusive account of the development and implication of the humanistic culture of Europe (north as well as south) in the age of the Renaissance. It is based on the researches of more than a generation of scholars, active since about the end of the Second World War.”
The book shows that Humanism spread in Europe in the early 16th century, first of all in the Rhineland, of Germany at Holland and Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) was the headlight of the new culture, very much related to religion its reflections on Christianity, the training of Christian princes and generally as an intellectual guide of Europe.
Under pressure of his guardians, Erasmus became an Augustinian monk, but thanks to the protection of the Bishop of Cambrai was allowed to leave the cloister and travel extensively in Europe. He visited England more than once and was welcomed there by the great scholars of the day: Sir Thomas More, John Colet and William Grocyn. He was induced by John Fisher to lecture at Cambridge on Greek (he was appointed Lady Margaret Reader) from 1511 to 1514.
He received from Archbishop Warham the benefice of Aldington in Kent, and on his resigning it, a pension which continued until his death. His ‘Morial Encomium’ (The Praise of Folly, 1509) was a satire written at the suggestion of Sir Thomas More; it was, in the main, directed against theologians and Church dignitaries.
Erasmus paved the way for the Reformation with his writings - his version of the New Testament, the scornful comments on Church abuses that accompanied it, and his ‘Encomium’.
With the movement itself he sympathised at first. But he refused to intervene either for or against Luther at the time of the Diet of Worms (1521).
He urged restraint on both sides and disclaimed compassion with Luther's aggression and severe conclusions.
The authors of this volume show how Humanism penetrated in France thanks to the pontifical court of Avignon, where, in the 14th century, the translators rediscovered the ancient philosophy of Aristotle and the Roman history. England was more tardily touched, unquestionably because of its political unsteadiness in the 15th century.
But the movement accelerated in the sixteenth century with the Chancellor, Sir Thomas More and his Utopia (1516).
Around 1530, the revival and expansion of learning seemed to federate the European culture. Confidence in human progress, civilisation, the human capacity to embrace knowledge characterised a philosophy brought about a diversity of talents linking people of religion and the artists (Leonardo da Vinci), the well-read men (such as Rabelais and the authors of La Pléiade) and the philosophers scientific (Francis Bacon).
New sciences appeared - political philosophy, geography, cosmology and the historical thought made of decisive progress.
At the same time, the 15th and 16th centuries were one period of relative prosperity and openings of the social groups in the rise of reinforced monarchies, thanks to which erudite and artists met an individual success in developing the spirit of discovery, technical and mental capabilities: humanism is an auxiliary of the concept of the individual.
The movement, to begin with, met the contempt of a part of nobility and the well-read men choosing between pure scholarship and literature. Resistance also came from the universities, especially from faculties of theology which realised that the spirit of examination generated religious criticism (comparison between the primitive Church and the modern Church).
Erasmus strongly reprimanded the Roman well-read men who, according to him, had moved away from Christianity.
But by the end of the 16th century, the public started imposing cultural changes which humanism had already transformed. The education system in universities was renovated, principally under the influence of the Jesuits.
A Christian humanism evolved at the beginning of the 17th century.
During the French Revolution and soon after, in Germany (by the Left Hegelians) humanism began to refer to an ethical philosophy, centred on humankind, without attention to the transcendental.
The author shows that the label, ‘Religious Humanism’, refers to organized groups that sprang up during the late 19th and early 20th th centuries. It is similar to Protestantiam, although centred on human needs, interests and abilities rather than the supernatural.
In the Anglophone world, such modern, organised forms of humanism, which are rooted in the eighteenth century Enlightenment, have to a considerable extent more or less detached themselves from the historic connection of humanism with classical learning and the liberal arts.
Let us conclude this review with two fine-points:
**The first Humanist Manifesto was issued by a conference held at the University of Chicago in 1903, Signatories included the philosopher John Dewey, but the majority, were ministers (primarily Unitarian) and theologians. They identified humanism as an ideology that espouses rationale, ethics, and social and economic justice; they called for science to substitute dogma and the supernatural as the basis of morality and decision-making.
**As of 2016, "Humanism" typically refers to a non- theistic life stance centred on human agency and looking to science rather than revelation from a supernatural source to understand the world.
Neat book for political-philosophy aficionados……...
Generally spelt, Humanism is a philosophical and ethical deportment that emphasises the value and agency of human beings, separately and communally, and normally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over unthinking, acceptance of dogma or superstition.
The meaning of the term humanism has fluctuated according to the successive intellectual movements which have identified with it. Generally, however, humanism refers to a point of view that affirms some conception of human liberty and advancement.
In modern times, humanist movements are characteristically aligned with secularism.
The word "Humanism" is eventually derived from the Latin concept ‘humanitas’, and like most other words ending in ‘ism’, entered English in the 19th century.
However, historians have the same opinion that the notion predates the label invented to describe it, encompassing the assortment of meanings ascribed to ‘humanitas’, which included munificence, both towards one's fellow human and the values imparted by ‘bonal litteral’ or human learning (plainly "good letters").
Into the following chapters the book has been divided:
1) The birth of humanist culture
2) Humanism becomes dominant
3) Humanism and Italian society
4) Crossing the Alps
5) Triumph and disaster
6) Humanism in the late Renaissance
7) The end of an age
“This book aims to present an inclusive account of the development and implication of the humanistic culture of Europe (north as well as south) in the age of the Renaissance. It is based on the researches of more than a generation of scholars, active since about the end of the Second World War.”
The book shows that Humanism spread in Europe in the early 16th century, first of all in the Rhineland, of Germany at Holland and Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) was the headlight of the new culture, very much related to religion its reflections on Christianity, the training of Christian princes and generally as an intellectual guide of Europe.
Under pressure of his guardians, Erasmus became an Augustinian monk, but thanks to the protection of the Bishop of Cambrai was allowed to leave the cloister and travel extensively in Europe. He visited England more than once and was welcomed there by the great scholars of the day: Sir Thomas More, John Colet and William Grocyn. He was induced by John Fisher to lecture at Cambridge on Greek (he was appointed Lady Margaret Reader) from 1511 to 1514.
He received from Archbishop Warham the benefice of Aldington in Kent, and on his resigning it, a pension which continued until his death. His ‘Morial Encomium’ (The Praise of Folly, 1509) was a satire written at the suggestion of Sir Thomas More; it was, in the main, directed against theologians and Church dignitaries.
Erasmus paved the way for the Reformation with his writings - his version of the New Testament, the scornful comments on Church abuses that accompanied it, and his ‘Encomium’.
With the movement itself he sympathised at first. But he refused to intervene either for or against Luther at the time of the Diet of Worms (1521).
He urged restraint on both sides and disclaimed compassion with Luther's aggression and severe conclusions.
The authors of this volume show how Humanism penetrated in France thanks to the pontifical court of Avignon, where, in the 14th century, the translators rediscovered the ancient philosophy of Aristotle and the Roman history. England was more tardily touched, unquestionably because of its political unsteadiness in the 15th century.
But the movement accelerated in the sixteenth century with the Chancellor, Sir Thomas More and his Utopia (1516).
Around 1530, the revival and expansion of learning seemed to federate the European culture. Confidence in human progress, civilisation, the human capacity to embrace knowledge characterised a philosophy brought about a diversity of talents linking people of religion and the artists (Leonardo da Vinci), the well-read men (such as Rabelais and the authors of La Pléiade) and the philosophers scientific (Francis Bacon).
New sciences appeared - political philosophy, geography, cosmology and the historical thought made of decisive progress.
At the same time, the 15th and 16th centuries were one period of relative prosperity and openings of the social groups in the rise of reinforced monarchies, thanks to which erudite and artists met an individual success in developing the spirit of discovery, technical and mental capabilities: humanism is an auxiliary of the concept of the individual.
The movement, to begin with, met the contempt of a part of nobility and the well-read men choosing between pure scholarship and literature. Resistance also came from the universities, especially from faculties of theology which realised that the spirit of examination generated religious criticism (comparison between the primitive Church and the modern Church).
Erasmus strongly reprimanded the Roman well-read men who, according to him, had moved away from Christianity.
But by the end of the 16th century, the public started imposing cultural changes which humanism had already transformed. The education system in universities was renovated, principally under the influence of the Jesuits.
A Christian humanism evolved at the beginning of the 17th century.
During the French Revolution and soon after, in Germany (by the Left Hegelians) humanism began to refer to an ethical philosophy, centred on humankind, without attention to the transcendental.
The author shows that the label, ‘Religious Humanism’, refers to organized groups that sprang up during the late 19th and early 20th th centuries. It is similar to Protestantiam, although centred on human needs, interests and abilities rather than the supernatural.
In the Anglophone world, such modern, organised forms of humanism, which are rooted in the eighteenth century Enlightenment, have to a considerable extent more or less detached themselves from the historic connection of humanism with classical learning and the liberal arts.
Let us conclude this review with two fine-points:
**The first Humanist Manifesto was issued by a conference held at the University of Chicago in 1903, Signatories included the philosopher John Dewey, but the majority, were ministers (primarily Unitarian) and theologians. They identified humanism as an ideology that espouses rationale, ethics, and social and economic justice; they called for science to substitute dogma and the supernatural as the basis of morality and decision-making.
**As of 2016, "Humanism" typically refers to a non- theistic life stance centred on human agency and looking to science rather than revelation from a supernatural source to understand the world.
Neat book for political-philosophy aficionados……...
June 6, 2021
Hümanizmi ve Rönesans'ı derinlemesine (evet, biraz fazla ayrıntılı) öğrenmek için iyi bir kaynak. Ayrıca bilinen birçok bilgiyi de yerinden ediyor. Mesela Bruno güneş merkezli sistemi savundu diye Engizisyon tarafından öldürülmüyormuş aslında. Kalınca bir kitap, hümanizmi merak ediyorsanız sadece giriş ve sonuç bölümlerini okumanız yeterli olacaktır.
March 27, 2021
Did not finish.
October 2, 2022
history class slay
July 31, 2013
Truly demonstrates a new approach to the topic of humanism and explores its every aspect in detail. Nauert proves his point dexterously.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews