Humanism

Literally -- humanism from the latin studia humanitatis -- or studies of the human mind and form. Humanism was denoted as such (the study of man) to distinguish itself from the earlier forms of scholasticism -- or the study of God and the works of God, eg: the bible, etc. Humanism advocated the intellectual development of man without direction from God, through secular learning and the study of classical literature. It is precisely the thoughts of humanism which tipped off the later Reformation movements.

Humanism began its rise in the universities of the 14th century in Italy, and sparked off a movement that became the Renaissance. The earliest humanists were authors such as Boccaccio (1313-75) who composed the Decameron -- the first modern, secular short story collection. Another 14th century humanist was the poet Petrarch (1304-74), who translated and studied the works of Cicero and promoted the secular learning of the early Greeks.

The study of humanism was divided into three forms -- grammar, rhetoric, and poetics. Initially these forms were all studied from the classical, and in particular the Greek world -- the movement of Byzantine scholars to Italy from around 1400 where they taught the Greek language enabled scholars to study classical Greek texts in their original language, and to perform many translations.

The Platonic academy was established in Florence, Italy in around 1440 specifically to promote the study of Greek language works, and in particular the philosophy and other works of Plato and others.

This rise in the study of Greek and other (eg: Latin) secular texts during the 15th century gave Humanism the ability to edge-out its competitive form, scholasticism in the universities. Important secular humanists from Italy such as Ficino, Pico della Mirandola and Lorenzo Valla promoted humanism as a world-wide movement. The first humanist pope, Nicholas V was the founder of Rome's Vatican Library, one of the world's most important (at the time) collections of humanist literature.

By the end of the 15th century, humanism, and in its wake the Renaissance had become established throughout the main centers of Europe. One of the world's most important humanists of his day, Erasmus (1469? - 1536), was born in Holland and travelled widely throughout Europe, including Italy and England. One of Erasmus' great works, The Praise of Folly was translated into almost every language, including English, by the end of the 17th century.