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Satire of Philosophy and Philosophers in Fifteenth Century Florence

Signoriello, F; (2014) Satire of Philosophy and Philosophers in Fifteenth Century Florence. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London). Green open access

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Abstract

After centuries when those who were engaged with the preservation and the transmission of knowledge were only partially devoted to intellectual activities, fifteenth-century Italy saw the rebirth of the philosopher. This thesis traces the changes that shaped the role of the philosopher during the fifteenth-century in Florence, a city whose arts, literature and philosophical heritage have been the focus of scholarly attention for many years. A feature of Quattrocento Florence that has been neglected, however, is comic literature. This thesis discusses a distinctive aspect of this literature: fifteenth century satirical comic literature progressively assumed the form of a tradition the aim of which was to mock intellectual aspirations. Through the evolution of this tradition we can follow the development of the intellectual Florentine milieu. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first deals with the development of the satire of philosophy and is made up of five Chapters, each dedicated to one or more poets who represent a different stage. In his poem Lo Studio d’Atene Stefano Finiguerri mocked the scholars of the Florentine University. Finiguerri was followed by Burchiello and his imitators, who developed a more refined style of comic poetry. Matteo Franco and Alessandro Braccesi addressed philosophers more directly, while Lorenzo de’ Medici parodied the philosophy of Marsilio Ficino. The second part of the thesis deals with the representation of the intellectual understood as the fully formed figure of the philosopher. The two most significant authors here are Marsilio Ficino and his antagonist, the poet Luigi Pulci.

Type: Thesis (Doctoral)
Title: Satire of Philosophy and Philosophers in Fifteenth Century Florence
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Language: English
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > SELCS
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1430475
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