Before Utopia - Ross Dealy

Before Utopia

The Making of Thomas More's Mind

(Autor)

Buch | Hardcover
416 Seiten
2020
University of Toronto Press (Verlag)
978-1-4875-0659-9 (ISBN)
108,45 inkl. MwSt
This book explores the influence of Stoicism on the evolution of Thomas More’s mind, asserting that More’s engagement with the work of Erasmus radicalized his understanding of Christianity and shaped the writing of Utopia.
Before Utopia demonstrates that Thomas More’s Utopia (1516) is not, as is widely accepted, a rhetorical play of spirit but is instead built from a particular philosophy. That philosophy is not Platonism, but classical Stoicism.

Deeply disturbed in his youth by the conviction that he needed to decide between a worldly and a monastic path, Thomas More was transformed in 1504 by Erasmus’ De taedio Iesu and Enchiridion. As a consequence, he married in 1505 and wholeheartedly committed himself to worldly affairs. His Lucian (1506), written after working directly with Erasmus, adopts the Stoic mindset; Erasmus’ Praise of Folly (1511) shows from beginning to end the workings of More’s life-changing Stoic outlook. More’s Utopia then goes on to systematically illustrate the Stoic unitary two-dimensional frame of thought within an imaginary New World setting.

Before Utopia is not just a book about Thomas More. It is a book about intellectual history and the movement of ideas from the ancient world to the Renaissance. Ross Dealy emphasizes the continuity between Erasmus and More in their religious and philosophical thought, and above all the decisive influence of Erasmus on More.

Ross Dealy is a retired associate professor at St. John’s University, NY.

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction: In Search of the Meaning of Utopia

Part I: The Mystery of More’s "Either/Or" 1505 Decision: Bodily and Mental Issues before Late 1504

1. Religion, Law, and Humanism
2. The Lectures on Augustine’s City of God (c. 1501)
3. The Translations of Pico’s Writings (1504)
4. The Despairing Letter to Colet (1504)
5. January 1505: An Ambivalent Decision?

Part II: More’s Radically New, Both/And, Paradigm: Erasmus’ De taedio Iesu and the Enchiridion, 1503

1. Thomas More’s Transformation: A First Reading of De taedio Iesu and the Enchiridion
2. Erasmus’ Biography of More
3. The Unexplained Explained

Part III: More’s Lucian, 1506 – and Utopia: Teaching Stoic Two-Dimensional Christianity

1. Joy and the New Frame of Mind
2. A New Analysis of Saints’ Lives
3. The Role of Cynicus and Menippus
4. Modelling Books I–III of De officiis
5. A Relationship to Utopia?

Part IV: Thomas More as Unitarily "Democritus" and "The Man For All Seasons": Erasmus’ Preface to The Praise of Folly, 1510

Part V: A Stoic/Morean Praise of Folly, 1511: The Praise of Folly Works Out More’s Stoic-Framed Transformation

1. The Rhetoric Is Brilliant but Secondary
2. Is Reality Abstract or Worldly? Or Both?
3. Truth Is "Truer Than Truth Itself" (The Stoic Unitary Both/And)
4. Highest Piety Is Unitarily Two-Dimensional
5. Why Is Folly Silent Regarding the Foundation of Her Thinking?

Part VI: Utopian Philosophy, 1516: Epicureanism within a Stoic Honestum/Utile Frame

1. Moral Philosophy
2. Stoic Corrections of Epicureans: Religious Absolutes
3. Stoic Corrections of Epicureans: Moral Absolutes
4. Stoic Utile Expanded
5. Stoic Justice Expanded
6. Corollaries

Part VII: Utopian Warfare: A Unitary Two-Dimensional Mindset

1. Super Machiavellians?
2. "Utter Loathing of War" and Yet a Thoroughly Militarized State
3. Righteous Cunning, Stratagem, and Ferocity
4. Beyond Machiavelli, a Seamless Mindset

Part VIII: What Wiseman Hythloday Did Not Understand

Conclusion

Bibliography

Erscheinungsdatum
Verlagsort Toronto
Sprache englisch
Maße 155 x 231 mm
Gewicht 780 g
Themenwelt Literatur Klassiker / Moderne Klassiker
Geisteswissenschaften Religion / Theologie
Geisteswissenschaften Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft Anglistik / Amerikanistik
Geisteswissenschaften Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft
ISBN-10 1-4875-0659-7 / 1487506597
ISBN-13 978-1-4875-0659-9 / 9781487506599
Zustand Neuware
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