Florence was already home to a revival of ancient classical learning: of ‘humanism’, not in the sense of a concern with the human race, but in the sense of a devotion to ‘humane letters’
Trang 1Churches, proclaimed in the decree Laetentur Caeli, agreed by Pope, emperor, and patriarch in 1439, proved as short-lived as its predecessor of 1270 But the eVects of the Council on the history of philosophy were more long-lasting
Florence was already home to a revival of ancient classical learning: of
‘humanism’, not in the sense of a concern with the human race, but in the sense of a devotion to ‘humane letters’ One of the earliest manifestations
of this was an admiration for the style of classical Roman authors and a corresponding distaste for scholastic Latin Leonardo Bruni, a senior Flor-entine civil servant in the 1430s, retranslated important texts of Aristotle into more elegant Latin Along with a desire for new translations of Greek classics, many educated men felt a hunger to learn Greek itself and to read Plato, Aristotle, and other ancient thinkers in the original language From
1396 Greek had been regularly taught in Florence to a select few
The presence of Eastern scholars at the Council of Florence gave a Wllip
to this movement Those in attendance at the Council included Georgios Gemistos Plethon (1360–1452), a leading Platonist, his pupil Bessarion (1403–72), and the Aristotelian George of Trebizond (1395–1484) Of this trio only Plethon, an opponent of Church union, returned to Greece after the Council: the others stayed in Rome, George becoming a papal secretary and Bessarion a cardinal
During the Council, Plethon lectured on the comparative merits of Plato and Aristotle Latin philosophers, he said, greatly overvalued Aristotle Plato was much to be preferred: he believed in a creator God, not just a prime mover; and he believed in a truly immortal soul Aristotle was wrong about Ideas, wrong in thinking virtue was a mean, and wrong in equating happiness with contemplation
Plethon’s onslaught drew replies from both Greeks and Latins George Scholarios, an admirer of Aquinas and a supporter of union at Florence, later became disillusioned and returned to Constantinople, where he eventually became patriarch In 1445 he wrote a Defence of Aristotle against those who preferred Plato Though Aristotle thought the world was eternal, nonetheless he did think God was its eYcient cause; he believed that the human soul was immortal and indestructible He was a much clearer and more systematic philosopher than Plato Scholarios believed— perhaps rightly—that Plethon was not a Christian at all, but a Neoplatonist pagan, and after he died he had his works publicly burnt
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