Institut Supérieur des Sciences Humaines de Tunis / Département d'Anglais / Année universitaire 2022-23

License anglais: 2ème année

Course: British Trends
Instructor: Lamia Tayeb

Week 2-3 – Renaissance Humanism: Sir Thomas More’s Utopia

Humanism and the Renaissance

-- Humanism and the Renaissance are strictly related:

-- The Renaissance, consisting of a return to/revival of the Classical heritage, is

by definition a humanist movement. It is mainly concerned with the human being
as opposed to the interest in spiritual matters or religion.

-- Humanism of the 15th century centralises the Classical value of virtue; it

promotes the belief that attaining virtue (private/personal and public/civic) rests
on education in the Classics.

 Education should consist of the study of Latin and Greek languages and
Classical texts.

 It can lead to the formation of free-thinking and virtuous individuals

capable of leading a good life and promoting the good of the community
(engagement in public life).

-- The term ‘Renaissance Humanisms’ refers to a broad intellectual movement

that:  regards the works of Classical antiquity (Greek and Roman civilisations)
as a golden heritage;

 privileges what the Roman thinker Cicero calls ‘studia humanitatis’, i.e. the
study of the human being instead of religion and spirituality.

Renaissance Humanism vs. modern humanism

-- Renaissance humanism must be distinguished from modern twentieth century
humanism.

-- Both centralise man and his well-being and oppose anything that might
shackle him and limit his potential or freedom. They are different in two main
respects:

-- Renaissance Humanism: Only an education that is based on the study of the

Classics can ensure the formation of individuals capable of leading a good and

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Institut Supérieur des Sciences Humaines de Tunis / Département d'Anglais / Année universitaire 2022-23
License anglais: 2ème année
Course: British Trends
Instructor: Lamia Tayeb

fruitful existence and fulfilling their potential: Attaining public and private
virtue as a Classical ideal

-- Renaissance humanism does not exclude religion and only opposes the
Medieval church as an oppressive and corrupt institution

-- Modern Humanism: believes that only a universal, free and secular

education that can lead to the formation of equal citizens ready to become active
members of their national societies.

 Modern ideal of equality before the law

 Modern notion of rights and duties

-- Modern humanism dispenses with religion, elevates human rationalism,

science and industry, and considers social justice the ultimate goal of the
human endeavour.

What is Renaissance Humanism?

-- Renaissance humanism originated in Italy in the mid-14th century and spread
in Europe during the 15th century. The early thinkers of the Italian renaissance
are Dante Alghieri (1265-1321), Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) (1304-1374), and
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375).

-- These thinkers privileged studia humanitatis (Cicero), a focus on the

human being and the ideal of virtue. They privileged the study of the works of
Classical antiquity through careful reading, translation, imitation, as well as
recuperation of lost texts. The Classical tradition is regarded as a golden
heritage, which means that the study of Greek and Latin languages formed an
essential part of a humanist education.

-- Neither a philosophy nor a unified school of thought, Renaissance humanism

may be defined as a “new way of life” (King, p. ix) through which individuals
aspire to a virtuous existence by immersing themselves in the Classics. Religion
was incorporated into the ideals of virtue and moral autonomy.

-- Yet Renaissance humanism promoted observation, objective and critical

analysis as well as intellectual freedom when approaching a particular issue.
Renaissance humanism thus gradually promoted the ideal of a free-thinking,
morally autonomous individual (free of both religious and political authority).

 The ideal of the good, morally perfectible individual rests on education.

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Institut Supérieur des Sciences Humaines de Tunis / Département d'Anglais / Année universitaire 2022-23
License anglais: 2ème année
Course: British Trends
Instructor: Lamia Tayeb

 Education is seen as the means through which the human mind is

cultivated and human nature is tamed and disciplined/restrained.
 Without education, human nature is liable to degenerate.
 With education, it can soar to the highest levels of possibility.

The expansion of Renaissance humanism

-- During the 14th and 15th centuries, humanism flourished in Italy especially in
the Italian city-states like Rome, Florence, Venice and Naples: members of the
Noble class offered their sons a humanist education, while writers and thinkers
were employed by princes.

-- An Italian movement known as the New Learning (the humanist revival of

Classical culture and heritage) spread across Europe.

-- The expansion of Renaissance humanism from Italy to Northern Europe was in

part made possible by the mobility of scholars: Italian humanist writers
spread the New Learning as they travelled to the North of Europe. Young
writers, artists and thinkers also travelled from the North like England, Holland
or Poland to Italy, which was then considered a centre of learning and rich
cultural life. From an Italian movement, Renaissance humanism turned into a
European movement.

-- The invention of the printing press around the middle of the 15th century also
played an important part in the dissemination of Classical texts to a large
reading public.

-- The movement also broadened: from artistic, literary and philosophical

concerns, it extended into other areas of human enquiry, namely science,
religion, political thought.

1. Science: Renaissance humanism is strictly related to the early modern

development of science. Science was promoted by the humanist belief in the
capacity of man to understand the world and the necessity of pursuing this
through observation and critical enquiry.

-- Because they focused on man, his needs and the conditions of his existence,
humanists promoted scientific enquiry: observing, dissecting and categorizing the
world.

2. religion: In addition to science, renaissance humanism was characterised by

an interest in religion: Christian, religious humanism, based on rejecting the
Church’s dogmatism and corruption as well religious fanaticism.

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Institut Supérieur des Sciences Humaines de Tunis / Département d'Anglais / Année universitaire 2022-23
License anglais: 2ème année
Course: British Trends
Instructor: Lamia Tayeb

3. Politics: both the social existence (civic experience) of the individual and the
kind of political community (ideal state) he can institute and live within are
primary humanist concerns.

Renaissance thinkers: Erasmus and More

-- Two major figures of Renaissance humanism: the Dutch thinker, Desiderius
Erasmus of Rotterdam (1467-1536), and the English thinker, Sir Thomas
More (1478-1535).

 Both fight religious dogmatism and the corruption of the church 

Christian humanism that promotes the values of (religious) freedom and
tolerance.
 Both believe in education as way towards achieving moral rectitude.
 Both show a concern with the state, political power and social
organisation.

-- Their notion of the state is to be distinguished from previous forms like the
tribal rule, the empire, Medieval kingdoms and principalities and the city-state.
It is Close to the idea of the modern nation-state which is being born.

 Concern with the central figure of political power, the prince.

 Fear of this figure: his bad rule may endanger the well-being and
prosperity of the community.
 Concern with the problem of defective rule: Problems of tyranny,
injustice, inequality, overtaxing, ineffective or bad rule = Major concerns in
subsequent centuries.

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Institut Supérieur des Sciences Humaines de Tunis / Département d'Anglais / Année universitaire 2022-23
License anglais: 2ème année
Course: British Trends
Instructor: Lamia Tayeb

Sir Thomas More, Utopia

-- Sir Thomas More’s Utopia (1516) is a response to the political system in Europe
and the sense of failure of political power. Utopia is a work that seeks solutions
for the socio-political ills of early 16th century European kingdoms.

 It shows a hatred of war (shared by Erasmus and More)

 It is sceptical of the Church (While Erasmus seeks to reform the Church,
More totally excludes it).

-- The ideal Utopian society is a set on a remote island. It is an ideal republic

(modelled after Plato’s republic) that has the following broad characteristics:

 Society of Utopia is communist: no private property since this is identified

by More as a source of human conflict and misery.
 The prince, the centre of political power, is elected.
 The economy of Utopia is based on farming.
 It has a number of principles: non-engagement in war, religious
tolerance, and family values.

-- Some principles may appear oppressive:

 limited individual rights (while any instance of wrongdoing is punished,

Utopians live happily in freedom and harmony).
 the individual duties and everyday chores of men, women and children are
strictly defined by the state and closely monitored.
 Utopia admits slavery: hard work is performed by slaves to ensure the
freedom of utopians from drudgery.

Utopia: A humanist text

-- Utopia is classified as a major humanist text because it contains some of the

central principles / doctrines of humanism:

 A belief that man can improve himself through education.

 A belief in man’s potential goodness and rationality = human possibility.
 A belief in social improvement through the collective effort of the
members of society. This is made possible through social planning and
good, efficient institutions.

-- In addition, Thomas More has a humanist conception of (human) nature. He

creates a parallel between the natural and human orders through the metaphor
of cultivation (Rebhorn, 1976):

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Institut Supérieur des Sciences Humaines de Tunis / Département d'Anglais / Année universitaire 2022-23
License anglais: 2ème année
Course: British Trends
Instructor: Lamia Tayeb

Education (cultivation of the human mind) // agriculture (cultivation of

nature)

1. Image of the state as a cultivated garden = part of a Christian view: the

earth or nature is imperfect; it needs human labour to be transformed into
something more beautiful and more fruitful. Through labour and good planning,
man can transform his space into a garden (paradise).  Importance of the art of
agriculture as a way of improving the natural world.  agriculture = a symbol of
civilisation).

-- Utopia is a place that is transformed by man’s art: it is essential to civilise and

domesticate everything, which is also perceived as a re-creation of Eden in a
fallen world.

2. Likewise, man is a soil to be cultivated so as to prosper, bear fruit:

Utopia’s citizens are a carefully cultivated people. Social institutions are
extremely repressive: every human behaviour is carefully monitored. Human
nature is in need of cultivation and if left as it is, it can only breed evil and
corruption.

rude/raw vs. cultivated

savage vs. civilized

-- Image of taming/domestication of (human) nature: the main threat to man’s

civilisation /culture is an untamed, bestial or wild (human) nature.  Metaphor
of sickness (in body and mind) vs. health.

 More’s moral view of human freedom