This book examines the revival of antique philosophy in the Renaissance as a literary preoccupation informed by wit. Humanists were more inspired by the fictionalized characters of certain wise fools, including Diogenes the Cynic, Socrates, Aesop, Democritus, and Heraclitus, than by codified systems of thought. Rich in detail, this study offers a systematic treatment of wide-ranging Renaissance imagery and metaphors and presents a detailed iconography of certain classical philosophers. Ultimately, the problems of Renaissance humanism are revealed to reflect the concerns of humanists in the twenty-first century.

"For the thinkers, artists and scholars of the Renaissance, antiquity was a major source of inspiration; it provided renewed modes of scholarship, led to corrections of received doctrine and proved a wellspring of new achievements in almost every area of human life. The 130 articles in this volume cover not only well known figures of the Renaissance such as Copernicus, Dürer, and Erasmus but also overall themes such as architecture, agriculture, economics, philosophy and philology as well as many others."--Provided by publisher.

The Vatican Library contains the richest collection of western manuscripts and early printed books in the world, and its holdings have both reflected and helped to shape the intellectual development of Europe. One of the central institutions of Italian Renaissance culture, it has served since its origin in the mid-fifteenth century as a center of research for topics as diverse as the early history of the city of Rome and the structure of the universe. This extraordinarily beautiful book which contains over 200 color illustrations, introduces the reader to the Vatican Library and examines in particular its development during the Renaissance. Distinguished scholars discuss the Library's holdings and the historical circumstances of its growth, presenting a fascinating cast of characters - popes, artists, collectors, scholars, and scientists - who influenced how the Library evolved. The authors examine subjects ranging from Renaissance humanism to Church relations with China and the Islamic world to the status of medicine and the life sciences in antiquity and during the Renaissance. Their essays are supported by a lavish display of maps, books, prints, and other examples of the Library's collection, including the Palatine Virgil (a fifth-century manuscript), a letter from King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn, and an autographed poem by Petrarch. The book serves as the catalog for a major exhibition at the Library of Congress that presents a selection of the Vatican Library's magnificent treasures.

Drawing from the work of Dewey, Wittgenstein and Heidegger, this book aims to relate a series of philosophic insights to the practice of engaging in design research for change. These insights are explored and presented as a set of potential strategies for grounding transformative design research within an intellectual context which both embraces and celebrates experience, process and uncertainty. Chapter by chapter, through theory, practical examples and case studies, an accessible narrative opens up around the coupled themes of existence and experience, language and meaning and knowing and truth. The outcome is a rich and detailed perspective on the ways in which philosophy may afford design research for change a means to both explain, as well as understand, not only what it is and what it does, but also what it could be. The book will be of interest to scholars working in design studies, design theory and design research.

To celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, this book offers fresh and exciting insights into the ever-popular works of the world’s greatest playwright. It specifically highlights Shakespeare’s use of the archetypal language of astrological symbolism in both obvious and subtle ways. Such references would have been commonly known in Shakespeare’s time, but their deeper significance is lost to modern-day playgoers and readers. The first half of the book describes the Elizabethan worldview and how the seven known planets were considered an integral part of the cosmos and instrumental in shaping human character. The second half of the book examines six of Shakespeare’s best-loved plays in the light of astrological symbolism, showing how they are entirely keyed to a specific zodiacal sign and its associated (or ruling) planet. The chosen plays are A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, The Tempest, and King Lear. Each chapter incorporates information and examples from astrological tradition, classical and Renaissance philosophy, Greek and Roman mythology, esoteric wisdom, modern psychology (especially that of C. G. Jung), and great literature. Thoroughly researched and well-illustrated, this book illuminates the plays from a fresh perspective that will deepen and profoundly transform how we understand them.

What did it mean to be a spectator during the lifetime of Shakespeare or of Aphra Behn? In Early Modern Spectatorship contributors use the idea of spectatorship to reinterpret canonical early modern texts and bring visibility to relatively unknown works. While many early modern spectacles were designed to influence those who watched, the very presence of spectators and their behaviour could alter the conduct and the meaning of the event itself. In the case of public executions, for example, audiences could both observe and be observed by the executioner and the condemned. Drawing on work in the digital humanities and theories of cultural spectacle, these essays discuss subjects as various as the death of Desdemona in Othello, John Donne's religious orientation, Ned Ward's descriptions of London, and Louis Laguerre's murals painted for the residences of English aristocrats. A lucid exploration of subtle questions, Early Modern Spectatorship identifies, imagines, and describes the spectator's experience in early modern culture.

Against the idea that comedy offers us a relief from the horrors of the real world, the German-Jewish-American filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch defended his masterpiece To Be or Not to Be, a comedy from 1942 about the concurrent Nazi occupation of Poland, with the claim that he had made up his mind “to make a picture with no attempt to relieve anybody from anything at any time.” The essays included in The Ethics of Ernst Lubitsch consider Lubitsch’s work from his early Berlin years to his Hollywood fame, emphasizing the idea of ‘comedy without relief’ as the fundamental ethical premise of his special cinematic ‘touch.’ In this edited collection, contributors take a closer look at how Lubitsch addresses delicate and controversial topics like sexuality, love, and revolution, and set out a picture of an engaged ethics without moralism. The Ethics of Ernst Lubitsch is a vital contribution to film scholarship and a tribute to an essential filmmaker.

Six hundred years after Poggio’s retrieval of the De rerum natura, and with the recent surge of interest in Lucretius and his influence, there has never been a better time to fully assess and recognize the shaping force of his thought and poetry over European culture from antiquity to modern times. This volume offers a multidisciplinary and updated overview of Lucretius as philosopher and as poet, with special attention to how these two aspects interact. The volume includes 18 contributions by established as well as early career scholars working on Lucretius’ philosophical and poetic work, and his reception both in ancient and early modern times. All the chapters present new and original research. Section I explores core issues of Epicurean-Lucretian epistemology and ethics. Section II expounds much new material on ancient response to and reception of Lucretius. Section III presents new material and analysis on the immediate, fraught early modern reception of the poem. Section IV offers a wide collection of new and original papers on Lucretius’ fortunes in the period from Machiavelli up to Victorian times. Section V explores little known aspects of the iconographical and biographical motifs related to the De rerum natura.

Uses the idea of the box in early modern England to develop a new direction in book history and material culture.

This Broadview Edition of Robert Greene’s Selimus is the first single-volume, modernized edition of this underrated dramatic gem in over a century. First published in 1594, the play grippingly stages the bloody fratricidal warfare inaugurating the reign of Selim I (1512-20) as emperor of the Ottoman Empire. Contributing to the expansion of the range of readily available non-Shakespearean early modern English plays, the edition is designed for scholars and students alike, in the study, classroom, or theatre. The critically edited text of the play is accompanied by a full introduction, comprehensive annotations, and ample contextual material from the early modern period, including Greene’s pamphlet Greene’s Groatsworth of Wit.