Great Ideas of Philosophy

IV. In some respects, the two sides of the Renaissance can be seen in two of the great thinkers of the age, Luther(1483–1546) and Erasmus (c. 1469–1536).A. Martin Luther would become one of the most powerful figures in the history of Western civilization,though again, his principal contributions are not philosophical. The book that counts most with Luther isthe Bible.B. Erasmus was among the most shining intellects ever to cast light on the subjects that amuse and confuserational beings. When he was 15, he was sent to monastery school, and although the clerical life was asource of disappointment to him, it provided him with scholarly resources that he used to great effect.C. In Luther and Erasmus, we discover the most decisive voices of a Reformation based on the rejection ofScholasticism and the restoration of evangelical Christianity. In place of what he regarded as Scholastichair-splitting, Erasmus would install the pure and perfect “philosophy of Christ,” an ethical ideal readilyguided by wisdom reached through humanizing influences.D. Neither Erasmus nor Luther aspired to be a philosopher. In this, too, there is a revealing aspect of thehumanism of the period.1. Consider Petrarch on the same subject: Writing “On his own ignorance and that of many others,”Petrarch says that as far as he is concerned, he can get as far as one would wish with the Bible, Cicero,and the folk-wisdom of his fellow citizens.2. He specifically eschews what he regards as the speculative confusion and ignorance of the ancientphilosophers. Again, the humanist is skeptical toward what the ancient world offers as perhaps itsgreatest achievement.V. The Renaissance conception of virtue is not one that would be wholly endorsed by Plato and Aristotle.A. Virtue is now more publicly observable, more external than internal. The Medicis will show their virtue bythe patronage they give to the artists, sculptors, and architects of the period.B. Along with this development goes a gospel of success that gives rise to excess at the cost of piety, a shiftthat the Reformation sought to halt.C. For Luther, the project of the Reformation is summarized in his Concerning Christian Liberty (1520): “Thesoul can do without everything except the word of God.” One begins with the word of God, and no Greekpagan is needed to tell us how to live our lives.Recommended Reading:Cassirer, E. et al. The Renaissance Philosophy of Man. Chicago, 1967.Erasmus. Ten Colloquies. Liberal Arts Press, 1957.Yates, F. Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition. Chicago, 1964).Questions to Consider:1. Explain how the Renaissance conception of human dignity relates to the Christian sense of man as fallen.2. Conclude whether patronage is a credible reflection of virtue.3. Give examples of today’s “patrons,” in the sense of the Medicis.©2004 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership 33