HUMANIST philosophers and their works

We dedicate this lesson from a TEACHER to humanistic philosophers and we are going to explain who its main representatives were, as well as its plays most famous. This doctrine, which arises in Italy in the century XIV, expanding rapidly through Europe, is closely related to the Renaissance, after it. It's a return to the Ancient Greece and RomeTo the classics, for that reason, reason is going to take ground away from faith and the human being from God, placing the former in the center.

The greatest exponents of him were Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Michel de Montaigne, Tomas Moro, or Juan Luís Vives, mainly. If you want to learn a little more about humanistic philosophers and their most important works, keep reading this lesson from a PROFESSOR.

Index

1. What is humanism?
2. Oratio de hominis dignitate, by Pico della Mirandola, the fundamental work of humanism
3. The Praise of Madness, one of the major works of Erasmus of Rotterdam
4. Utopia, by Tomás Moro, another of the most important works of humanism

Before talking about humanist philosophers, we will explain what humanism is. Well, as we said in the introduction, it is a return to the classics. Therefore, his main interest is the human being, which robs God of his privileged position at the center of the universe. Likewise, faith is subjected to reasonhuman.

The rapid spread of humanism is due, in large part, to the invention of the printing. But it was also decisive the way of expressing of the humanist authors, who used in their works a language close to the town, so that the books approached a wider sector of the population. The same happened with the academies and universities, which were beginning to open up to more people.

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was the first to use the term humanism to refer to this doctrine that places the human being at the center (anthropocentrism).

Image: Slideshare

The Speech on the dignity of man constitutes a whole manifesto of humanism and serves as an introduction to 900 theses aimed at demonstrating the power of reason and place, in this way, the human being in the center (anthropocentrism), which clashed with medieval theocentrism. It will be understood that the work was, at the time, surrounded by controversy.

The text begins by quoting Hermes Trismegistus:Magnum, or Asclepi, miraculum est homo, in Spanish: "Man is a great miracle, oh, Asclepius! "

The work is a praise of human reason, identifying it with freedom, therefore, the human being, thinks this author, is superior to the rest of the living beings, and even places it at the same level as God.

From a story in the Bible, Pico della Mirandola, takes us to the moment of the creation of the world by God and forming the "Chain of Being ", which was gradually creating beings, until, finally, at the highest level, it creates the human being. But this one, thanks to the power of his reason, through the philosophy, you can get out of this chain, becoming the owner of your life, your present and your future, and ascend to God.

“Nature encloses other species within laws established by me. But you, whom nothing limits, by your own will, into whose hands I have given you, you define yourself. I placed you in the middle of the world so that you could better contemplate what the world contains. I have made you neither celestial, nor terrestrial, nor mortal, nor immortal, so that you yourself, freely, in the manner of a good painter or a skilled sculptor, can finish off your own form.

Another of the most prominent humanist philosophers is Erasmus of Rotterdam. The Praise of madness is a work written by Erasmus of Rotterdam from the book by Faustino Perisauli in De triumpho stultitiae, in the house of Thomas More, great friend of yours. It is a fundamental work in the history of Western thought and it is largely due to the Protestant Reformation.

A curiosity is that the real title of the work is Moriae Encomium, sive Stultitiae Laus,so it could well be understood as “The eulogy of Moro”, Referring to Tomás Moro.

It is a satirical work in which Erasmus, exposes the advantages of being a fool, of living in ignorance, and of the disadvantages of being a scholar, going so far as to affirm that women prefer the stupid and the crazy, than the clever.

“According to the definition of the Stoics, if wisdom is nothing but being guided by reason and, on the contrary, stupidity being carried away by the will of the passions, Jupiter, so that human life was not hopelessly sad and severe, gave us more inclination to the passions than to the reason.”

The most important work of Thomas More, is composed of Two parts: the first, cutting political-philosophical and the second is a story that takes place in the Utopia island. Although, at present, utopia is understood as something ideal and unrealizable, Moro does not use it in his work in that sense, or at least he does not do so explicitly.

Utopia It is an imaginary island where its inhabitants live according to the christian moral and in the values ​​of the classic culture. The main character, Raphael Hythlodaeus, after visiting the island, returns to Europe, and recounts his experience.

Utopia is described as a community where individuals live in peace Y there is no private property, but that the goods are distributed among all. Its rulers are elected by vote, although the system has little to do with democracy. The work reminds The Republic, by Plato, which also describes an ideal world.

“So when I look at those republics that flourish everywhere today, I don't see in them - God forgive me! - but the conspiracy of the rich to procure their own comforts in the name of the republic. They imagine and invent all sorts of tricks to preserve, without fear of losing them, all the things that have been appropriate with bad arts, and also to abuse the poor by paying them for their work as little money as they can. And when the rich have decreed that such inventions be carried out for the benefit of the community, that is, also of the poor, they immediately become laws.”

If you want to read more articles similar to Humanist philosophers and their works, we recommend that you enter our category of Philosophy.

• Pico della Mirandola, G. Discourse on the Dignity of Man. Ed. Harp. 2020
• From Rotterdam, E. The Praise of Insanity. Ed. Austral. 2011
• Moro, T. Utopia. Ed. Ariel. 2016