Humanism
In his essay on the origins of humanism, Nicholas Mann notes that the emergence of humanism reflected both a continuity with and a sense of renewal of the past, specifically of classical Greek and Roman literature and of incorporation of the ideas that they contain into one’s own time. Through their search for ancient texts, the humanists “rediscovered” the thoughts and ideas of ancient times and sought to emmulate them. They did so through such means as imitating the ancient style of writing in the form of eloquent letters and even writing Latin verses of poetry, as well as the application of Roman legal codes to contemporary legal problems.
While the humanists were inspired by Roman and Greek literature, it was incumbent on them not merely to copy the ancient writers, but to imitate said writers. Mann notes that Petrarch made this point clear. A writer may, “follow in another man’s tracks, but not exactly in his footsteps. ” From Petrarch’s point of view, the correct analogy between the humanist writers and the ancient writers was not that of the portrait to the model who sits for the artist, but that of the son to a father. The son is similar to his father, but not identical. Petrarch himself, in his writings, demonstrated his own individuality. While incorporating ancient themes into his writings, such as the imagery in song 189 where his boat sails between Scylla and Charybdis (mythical figures in Greek mythology), he also highlighted Christian virtues from Roman history. After penning verses in his Bucolicum carmen, he realized that they were too close to the verses of Virgil, Ovid, or Horatio, and subsequently, he modified.
The concept of continuity with the past is not obsolete today. It touches the realm of writing as well as other venues in life. From the contestants on American Idol who attempt to take someone else’s song and make it their own to the art student who studies the masters in the search for his own unique style, we are all apprentices who must find our own voices as we seek to further the body of knowledge that we all share. In his sociocultural theory of learning, Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky proposed that from infancy, our cognitive skills develop as a result of internalizing and assimilating what we hear our parents and others tell us throughout childhood. Learning is this mediated through our society’s shared knowledge. In appropriating this knowledge, however, we are not merely parrots of what we hear, but imitators who apply the learning in unique ways.
