On Human Worth and Excellence (The I Tatti Renaissance Library)

Giannozzo Manetti

ISBN 10: 0674984587 / ISBN 13: 9780674984585

Published by Harvard University Press, 2019

About this Item

2019. Hardcover. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780674984585

Bibliographic Details

• Title: On Human Worth and Excellence (The I Tatti Renaissance Library)
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674984587
• ISBN 13: 9780674984585
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Giannozzo Manetti (1396–1459) was a celebrated diplomat, historian, philosopher, and humanist scholar of the early Renaissance who mastered ancient Greek and Hebrew as well as classical Latin. In this treatise, dedicated to Alfonso of Aragon, King of Naples, Manetti addresses a question central to the anthropology of the Renaissance: what are the moral, intellectual, and spiritual capabilities of the unique amalgam of body and soul that constitutes human nature? The treatise takes issue with a popular work of medieval asceticism, On the Misery of the Human Condition, written by none other than Innocent III, one of the greatest of medieval popes. The pope’s diatribe expresses a revulsion against human nature and argues for the futility of ambition, the emptiness of pleasures, and the ultimate worthlessness of human achievements. Manetti’s treatise presents a comprehensive refutation of the pope’s pessimism, sometimes citing the achievements of the Renaissance as evidence for the potential divinity of human nature and its extraordinary capabilities. This edition contains the first complete translation into English.

About the Author

Brian P. Copenhaver is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and History at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he directed the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.