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This volume focuses on early modern Italy and some of its key
multilingual zones: Venice, Florence, and Rome. It offers a novel
insight into the interplay and dynamic exchange of languages in the
Italian peninsula, from the early fifteenth to the early
seventeenth centuries. In particular, it examines the flexible
linguistic practices of both the social and intellectual elite, and
the men and women from the street. The point of departure of this
project is the realization that most of the early modern speakers
and authors demonstrate strong self-awareness as multilingual
communicators. From the foul-mouthed gondolier to the learned
humanist, language choice and use were carefully performed, and
often justified, in order to overcome (or affirm) linguistic and
social differences. The urban social spaces, the princely court,
and the elite centres of learning such as universities and
academies all shared similar concerns about the value,
effectiveness, and impact of languages. As the contributions in
this book demonstrate, early modern communicators - including
gondoliers, preachers, humanists, architects, doctors of medicine,
translators, and teachers-made explicit and argued choices about
their use of language. The textual and oral performance of
languages-and self-aware discussions on languages-consolidated the
identity of early modern Italian multilingual communities.
This volume focuses on early modern Italy and some of its key
multilingual zones: Venice, Florence, and Rome. It offers a novel
insight into the interplay and dynamic exchange of languages in the
Italian peninsula, from the early fifteenth to the early
seventeenth centuries. In particular, it examines the flexible
linguistic practices of both the social and intellectual elite, and
the men and women from the street. The point of departure of this
project is the realization that most of the early modern speakers
and authors demonstrate strong self-awareness as multilingual
communicators. From the foul-mouthed gondolier to the learned
humanist, language choice and use were carefully performed, and
often justified, in order to overcome (or affirm) linguistic and
social differences. The urban social spaces, the princely court,
and the elite centres of learning such as universities and
academies all shared similar concerns about the value,
effectiveness, and impact of languages. As the contributions in
this book demonstrate, early modern communicators - including
gondoliers, preachers, humanists, architects, doctors of medicine,
translators, and teachers-made explicit and argued choices about
their use of language. The textual and oral performance of
languages-and self-aware discussions on languages-consolidated the
identity of early modern Italian multilingual communities.
A reassessment of how the legacy of ancient philosophy functioned
in early modern Europe In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle affirms
that despite his friendship with Plato, he was a better friend of
the truth. With this statement, he rejected his teacher's
authority, implying that the pursuit of philosophy does not entail
any such obedience. Yet over the centuries Aristotle himself became
the authority par excellence in the Western world, and even
notorious anti-Aristotelians such as Galileo Galilei preferred to
keep him as a friend rather than to contradict him openly. In Early
Modern Aristotle, Eva Del Soldato contends that because the
authority of Aristotle—like that of any other ancient, including
Plato—was a construct, it could be tailored and customized to
serve agendas that were often in direct contrast to one another, at
times even in open conflict with the very tenets of Peripatetic
philosophy. Arguing that recourse to the principle of authority was
not merely an instrument for inculcating minds with an immutable
body of knowledge, Del Soldato investigates the ways in which the
authority of Aristotle was exploited in a variety of contexts. The
stories the five chapters tell often develop along the same
chronological lines, and reveal consistent diachronic and
synchronic patterns. Each focuses on strategies of negotiation,
integration and rejection of Aristotle, considering both
macro-phenomena, such as the philosophical genre of the comparatio
(that is, a comparison of Aristotle and Plato's lives and
doctrines), and smaller-scale receptions, such as the circulation
of legends, anecdotes, fictions, and rhetorical tropes ("if
Aristotle were alive . . ."), all featuring Aristotle as their
protagonist. Through the analysis of surprisingly neglected
episodes in intellectual history, Early Modern Aristotle traces how
the authority of the ancient philosopher—constantly manipulated
and negotiated—shaped philosophical and scientific debate in
Europe from the fifteenth century until the dawn of the
Enlightenment.
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