Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Indeterminate Self: Writing, Desire, and Temporality in Petrarch's Rerum vulgarium fragmenta
- 2 The Crisis of the Narrative Self
- 3 Petrarch's Humanism and the Ethics of Care of the Self
- 4 Ovid, Augustine, and the Limits of the Ethics of Care of the Self
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - Petrarch's Humanism and the Ethics of Care of the Self
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 April 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Indeterminate Self: Writing, Desire, and Temporality in Petrarch's Rerum vulgarium fragmenta
- 2 The Crisis of the Narrative Self
- 3 Petrarch's Humanism and the Ethics of Care of the Self
- 4 Ovid, Augustine, and the Limits of the Ethics of Care of the Self
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In the letter De studio eloquentie, probably written in 1345 to his friend the poet Tommaso da Messina, Petrarch writes:
The care of the soul calls for a philosopher, while the proper use of language requires an orator. We must neglect neither one, if, as they say, we are to return to the earth and be led about on the mouths of men. But I shall speak of the care of the soul elsewhere; for it is a great undertaking and an enormous labor, though very rich in harvest. At this time in order to avoid slipping into a subject other than the one that I set out to treat, I urge and admonish that we correct not only our life and conduct, which is the primary concern of virtue, but our language usage as well. This we will do by the cultivation of eloquence.
Starting his discussion of eloquence with the traditional division between the realms of rhetoric and philosophy, Petrarch's definition of philosophy in this statement is nonetheless significant. Animi cura – the care of the soul, the purpose of which is the correction of life and conduct (vitam et mores) through the cultivation of virtue, is the true aim of philosophy. For Petrarch, then, the true domain of philosophy is not the pursuit of abstract knowledge but rather the practical goal of the attainment of the appropriate way of life.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Petrarch's Humanism and the Care of the Self , pp. 79 - 120Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010