The Vices of Learning

Morality and Knowledge at Early Modern Universities
Erscheinungsjahr 2014
ISBN: 978-90-04-26412-0
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 48, 304 Seiten, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 239 mm, Gewicht: 576 g

Reihe: Education and Society in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

In The Vices of Learning: Morality and Knowledge at Early Modern Universities, Sari Kivistö examines scholarly vices in the late Baroque and early Enlightenment periods. Moral criticism of the learned was a favourite theme of Latin dissertations, treatises and satires written in Germany ca. 1670–1730. Works on scholarly pride, logomachy, curiosity and other vices kept the presses running at German Protestant universities as well as farther north. Kivistö shows how scholars constructed fame and how the process involved various means of producing celebrity. The book industry, plagiarism and impressive titles were all labelled dishonest means of advancing a career. In The Vices of Learning Kivistö argues that scholarly ethics was an essential part of the early modern intellectual framework.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kivisto, Sari

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Protestantismus, evangelische und protestantische Kirchen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Deutsche Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Angewandte Ethik & Soziale Verantwortung Wissenschaftsethik, Technikethik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements.vii

1 Introduction: Academic Self-criticism in the Early Modern Period.1
Dissertations on Scholarly Vices.1
Social Criticism of Scholars.7
Religious Critics of Errors Made by the Learned.13
Classifying the Vices of the Intellect and the Will.17
Vices of Learning Chapter by Chapter.22
2 Self-love and Pride.28
Preliminary Definitions.28
Good and Bad Self-love (philautia).32
Obstinacy as a Symptom of Self-love.35
Similar to God: Pride ( fastus).40
The Dogs of the Nile: Autodidacts and Self-sufficiency.46
Heads Full of Wind and Other Images of Pride.51
Spitzel’s Historical Examples of Pride.59
Pedantry and Thrasonism.63
Humility and Modesty.69
Conclusion.73
3 The Desire for Fame.76
Meursius on Glory, Fame and Ambition.77
Fame and Public Recognition.83
Literary Machiavellianism, Academic Deceit and Avarice.89
The Itch to Write.95
Agraphia.106
Bibliotaphia.111
Plagiarism and Academic Thieves.118
Titulomania.134
Conclusion.143
4 Logomachia and Futile Quarrelling.147
Disputations in Schools and Universities.147
Sophists and Other Wicked Disputants.153
Sectarians and Eclectics.156
Werenfels on Word-battles.161
Obscurity and Misunderstanding.171
Grammar Wars.173
Logomachies in Law.180
Pleasure, Ambition and Avarice.186
Advice on Moral Improvement.190
On Modesty, Again.194
Conclusions about Peacefulness.197
5 Curiosity and Novelties.202
Against Novelties.204
Bad Curiosity and Ambition.207
Measuring the World versus Knowing the Self.212
Curious Fields of Knowledge.217
Examples of Curious Scholars.223
Atheism, Curiosity and Singularity.226
Operative Curiosity.231
Conclusions about Curiosity and Useful Learning.233
6 Bad Manners and Old Learning.239
Unfashionable Scholars.239
Bad Communication.243
Solitude and Misanthropy.246
The Silence of the Philosophers.251
Seniority versus Youth.253
Conclusion.256
7 Conclusions about Morality and Knowledge.259

Appendix.265
Bibliography.274
Index.297

Über Autor(innen)

Sari Kivistö, Ph.D. (2002, Helsinki), Docent of Comparative Literature, works as an Academy of Finland Research Fellow and Deputy Director at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies. Kivistö has published widely on satire and Neo-Latin literature (e.g., Medical Analogy in Latin Satire, 2009).