Rethinking Virtue, Reforming Society: New Directions in Renaissance Ethics, c.1350 - c.1650

364 Pages·2013·1.776 MB·English

by  David A. Lines, Sabrina Ebbersmeyer

Rethinking Virtue,
Reforming Society
CURSOR MUNDI
Cursor Mundi is produced under the auspices of the Center for
Medieval and Renaissance Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
Executive Editor
Blair Sullivan, University of California, Los Angeles
Editorial Board
Michael D. Bailey, Iowa State University
Christopher Baswell, Columbia University and Barnard College
Florin Curta, University of Florida
Elizabeth Freeman, University of Tasmania
Yitzhak Hen, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Lauren Kassell, Pembroke College, Cambridge
David Lines, University of Warwick
Cary Nederman, Texas A&M University
Teofilo Ruiz, University of California, Los Angeles
Previously published volumes in this series are listed at the back of the book.
Volume 3
Rethinking Virtue,
Reforming Society
New Directions in Renaissance Ethics,
c.1350 – c.1650
Edited by
David A. Lines and Sabrina Ebbersmeyer
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Rethinking virtue, reforming society :
new directions in Renaissance ethics, c.1350-c.1650. --
(Cursor mundi ; 3)
1. Ethics, Renaissance.
I. Series
II. Lines, David A. editor of compilation.
III. Ebbersmeyer, Sabrina editor of compilation.
170.9'4'09024-dc23

ISBN-13: 9782503525242
© 2013, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
D/2013/0095/69
ISBN: 978-2-503-52524-2
Printed on acid-free paper
Contents
Illustration vii
Preface ix
Introduction
DAVID A. LINES 1
Part I. Contexts
Sources for Ethics in the Renaissance: The Expanding Canon
DAVID A. LINES and JILL KRAYE 29
From Schools to Courts: Renaissance Ethics in Context
DAVID A. LINES 57
Renaissance Ethics and the European Reformations
RISTO SAARINEN 81
Part II. Approaches and Genres
The Method of Moral Philosophy in Renaissance Humanism
ECKHARD KESSLER 107
Renaissance Readings of the Nicomachean Ethics
LUCA BIANCHI 131
vi Contents
Morals Stored and Ready for Use
ANN MOSS 169
Informal Ethics in the Renaissance
PETER MACK 189
Biography as a Genre of Moral Philosophy
ALISON K. FRAzIER 215
Part III. Themes
Happiness
ANTONINO POPPI 243
Passions for this Life
SABRINA EBBERSMEYER 277
Virtue of the Prince, Virtue of the Subject
ULLRICH LANGER 305
Epilogue: After Renaissance Ethics
SABRINA EBBERSMEYER 327
Index 337
Illustration
Figure 1, p. 49. Title-page woodcut illustrating the Tablet of Cebes, designed by
Hans Holbein the Younger and printed in Strabo, De situ orbis (Basel: in
aedibus V. Curionis, 1523).

Preface
The groundwork for this volume was laid in a series of panels on ‘Renaissance
Ethics’ organised by the co-editors for the annual meeting of the Renaissance
Society of America which took place in Cambridge, England, in April 2005.
Although the contours of this collection of essays now bear little resemblance
to the sequence of papers which were delivered then, we are grateful to the many
participants who provided valuable perspectives on the subject and challenged
our assumptions in a number of different ways. We are especially thankful to this
volume’s contributors for their patience during its long gestation.
The editors at Brepols (especially Simon Forde), the Cursor Mundi series
editors (particularly Blair Sullivan), and an anonymous reviewer provided ex-
pert guidance and advice, without which this volume would have had several
additional shortcomings. We are also grateful for the invaluable advice of Jill
Kraye as we were developing ideas for this volume. Most of all, we wish to ex-
press our appreciation for the patience and understanding of our families, who
put up with us beyond the call of duty as we brought this collection of essays
to a close.
David Lines
Sabrina Ebbersmeyer
14 April 2011