The Revival of Antique Philosophy in the Renaissance

294 Pages·2012·2.92 MB·English

by  John L. Lepage (auth.)

The Revival of Antique Philosophy
in the Renaissance
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The Revival of Antique Philosophy
in the Renaissance
By
John L. Lepage
THEREVIVALOFANTIQUEPHILOSOPHYINTHERENAISSANCE
Copyright©JohnL.Lepage,2012.
Softcover reprintofthehardcover1stedition2012 978–1–137–28181–4
Allrightsreserved.
Firstpublishedin2012by
PALGRAVEMACMILLAN®
intheUnitedStates—adivisionofSt.Martin’sPressLLC,
175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010.
WherethisbookisdistributedintheUK,Europeandtherestofthe
World,thisisbyPalgraveMacmillan,adivisionofMacmillanPublishers
Limited,registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,of
Houndmills,Basingstoke,HampshireRG216XS.
PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabove
companiesandhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld.
Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnited
States,theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries.
ISBN 978-1-349-44832-6 ISBN 978-1-137-31666-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137316660
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Lepage,JohnL.,1956–
TherevivalofantiquephilosophyintheRenaissance/by
JohnL.Lepage.
p. cm.
1. Europeanliterature—Renaissance,1450–1600—Historyand
criticism. 2. Philosophy,Ancient,inliterature. 3. Witand
humorinliterature. 4. Aesthetics,Renaissance.
5. Humanism. I. Title.
PN721.L472012
809(cid:2).03—dc23 2012031258
AcataloguerecordofthebookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
DesignbyIntegraSoftwareServices
Firstedition:December2012
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
ListofFigures vii
Preface ix
ANoteonTextsandTranslations xv
1 Introduction:Containers 1
2 AProgressofWiseFools 25
3 LaughingandWeepingMelancholy:Democritusand
HeraclitusasEmblems 81
4 DivineMadness,LiteraryFancy,andDreams 137
5 TheMindIsItsOwnPlace 175
Notes 197
Index 261
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Figures
CoverIllustration:PeterPaulRubens,DemocritusandHeraclitus(1603),
oiloncanvas.©MuseoNacionaldeEscultura,Valladolid.
2.1 Diogenesemergingfromhistub(Whitney,Choiceof
Emblemes,198) 30
2.2 Adogbayingatthemoon(Alciato,Emblemata,165) 31
2.3 Diogeneswithalanternindaylight(DeLaPerrière,
Morosophie,31) 33
2.4 DemocrituspointingatTruthinawell(DeLaPerrière,
Morosophie,48) 34
2.5 Bacchuswithhornsandadrum(Alciato,Emblemata,25) 39
2.6 Bacchusonatub(Peacham,MinervaBritanna,191) 42
2.7 AnasscarryinganIsisimage(Alciato,Emblemata,7) 56
2.8 Anasscarryingamiser’sriches(Alciato,Emblemata,86) 57
2.9 Aesopindexinghislifeandfables(Steinhöwel,The
FablesofAesop) 70
2.10 Thebellyandthefeet(Ogilby,TheFablesofAesop
Paraphras’d) 73
3.1 DemocrituslaughingandHeraclitusweeping(Alciato,
Emblemata,152) 115
3.2 DemocritusandHeraclitus (Rubens,1603) 119
3.3 Democritusbeforehisgarden(detailfromthetitlepage
ofBurton’sAnatomyofMelancholy) 131
4.1 Aphilosopherwithhisfingeronhislips(Alciato,
Emblemata,11) 155
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Preface
In light of the changing faces of the twenty-first century, which have
prompted intellectual communities to rethink their attitudes to aca-
demic humanism, even to the point of imagining a state of postmodern
posthumanism, now seems like a good time to reexamine the con-
tributions of the European Renaissance to the humanist theme. This
book is relevant to our present intellectual climate because it explores
howhumanistsgrappledwithseeminglyirreconcilableconclusionsabout
nature by viewing literature and the human arts in general as expres-
sions of philosophy. I argue that humanists revived antique philosophy
through vivid images of the philosophers themselves, whose lives had
been so fancifully reported by Diogenes Laertius, among others, as to
suggest the fluidity of their character philosopher to philosopher. The
book also underscores a literal understanding of the act of revival in a
conceit in which souls of the past are reanimated in altered and recon-
stituted bodies. Thus, it takes up the iconography of certain antique
philosophers—Diogenes the Cynic, Socrates, Aesop, Democritus, and
Heraclitus—as it influenced humanist discourses on knowledge. The
book examines relevant inferences about philosophical wisdom and
folly, specifically in connection with the prevailing mood of melancholy
intheperiod.
The most distinctive aspect of the book may be that it doesn’t
evaluate philosophy in terms of formal Platonism, neo-Platonism, or
Aristotelianism but through the exaggerated personalities of philoso-
phers whose philosophies, to the extent that they could be documented
at all, were casual and informal. Plato and Aristotle play minor parts
in the narrative. Humanists seemed to appreciate the significance of
the back seat Plato took to Socrates in his dialogues, where in the
domain of the frank discussion and debate “Platonism” counted for
little.
Above all, this book links Renaissance philosophy to intellectual wit.1
It shows how human experience was refracted by wit, which served the
offices of moral philosophy as a substitute for cold logic and a disruptor