• Log In

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

A Philosophy Podcast and Philosophy Blog

Subscribe on Android Spotify Google Podcasts audible patreon
  • Home
  • Podcast
    • PEL Network Episodes
    • Publicly Available PEL Episodes
    • Paywalled and Ad-Free Episodes
    • PEL Episodes by Topic
    • Nightcap
    • Philosophy vs. Improv
    • Pretty Much Pop
    • Nakedly Examined Music
    • (sub)Text
    • Phi Fic Podcast
    • Combat & Classics
    • Constellary Tales
  • Blog
  • About
    • PEL FAQ
    • Meet PEL
    • About Pretty Much Pop
    • Philosophy vs. Improv
    • Nakedly Examined Music
    • Meet Phi Fic
    • Listener Feedback
    • Links
  • Join
    • Become a Citizen
    • Join Our Mailing List
    • Log In
  • Donate
  • Store
    • Episodes
    • Swag
    • Everything Else
    • Cart
    • Checkout
    • My Account
  • Contact
  • Mailing List

Ep. 302: Erasmus Praises Foolishness (Part One)

October 17, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/partiallyexaminedlife/PEL_ep_302pt1_9-13-22.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 46:04 — 42.3MB)

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free.

On Desiderius Erasmus' The Praise of Folly (1509), featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Nathan Gilmour from the Christian Humanist podcast.

Does foolishness enhance life? The Dutch Renaissance Catholic theologian known for his disputes with Martin Luther criticized the church from the inside, using gentle satire that targeted everyone, including intellectuals like himself.

Sponsor: Visit Shopify.com/pel to start your free trial growing your business.

The book is a piece of rhetoric, a speech purportedly delivered by the goddess Folly herself, where she points out how ubiquitous foolishness is and how it actually helps us all live better lives. So what is the actual critique? The obvious point is that we should not take ourselves too seriously, and this is grounded in an epistemic humility based on how much greater God and His Understanding are than all of us foolish mortals. Erasmus argued against the tendency of the theologians of his day (the "Schoolmen") to confidently lay out knowledge of obscure metaphysical matters, when (according to Erasmus) Jesus' apostles themselves wouldn't have been able to understand what's actually being disputed. This prefigures philosophers like Kant who argued that true metaphysical knowledge is beyond human capacities.

But Erasmus was also talking more generally about the over-emphasis on Reason among philosophers following Plato and Aristotle, who thought that contemplation is the thing that distinguishes us from animals and brings us closer to the divine. Erasmus' main target is grouchy Stoic philosophers who seek to purge our emotions and make us beings of pure Reason. This is not only impossible, but the effort saps our motivation to do anything and makes us unpleasant to be around. So devoting your life to seeking perfect reasonableness not only doesn't save one from foolishness, but it is itself very foolish.

Such a Stoic shuns, for instance, sexuality, but this is of course the source of our existence. And to engage in sexual activity involves a lot of foolish behavior, both in the animality of the act itself and in all the romantic gestures that lead up to it and the compromises involved in being in a marriage. Erasmus was extremely sexist, and pretty much thought that all women were inherently silly, but that this was a blessing for men to be around, a welcome relief from all that serious men's work of various sorts. Likewise, Erasmus points at the foolishness of childhood and the relief that old age provides in making us childlike once again.

This could just be an Aristotelian kind of critique of excess. Of course Erasmus actually thinks reason and control of one's urges is good, just we need moderation to be well-rounded and healthy. It's also a proto-Nietzschean critique of the excessive will to truth. Erasmus says that flattery, including flattery of ourselves, is despite being false typically necessary to live with harmony and enough self-esteem to get out and accomplish things in the world.

A related episode is our recent one about Ficino, another Renaissance humanist, on Plato's Symposium. There are some points made here about madness directly out of Plato's Phaedrus. and I also bring up Montaigne's skepticism and Ricoeur on the "second naiveté." Hear Nathan's previous appearance on PEL talking about faith.

Buy the translation by Radice that we read or read some version online.

Image by Solomon Grundy. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Filed Under: Podcast Episodes Tagged With: philosophy podcast, Renaissance philosophy, rhetoric, wisdom

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

PEL Live Show 2023

Brothers K Live Show

Citizenship has its Benefits

Become a PEL Citizen
Become a PEL Citizen, and get access to all paywalled episodes, early and ad-free, including exclusive Part 2's for episodes starting September 2020; our after-show Nightcap, where the guys respond to listener email and chat more causally; a community of fellow learners, and more.

Rate and Review

Nightcap

Listen to Nightcap
On Nightcap, listen to the guys respond to listener email and chat more casually about their lives, the making of the show, current events and politics, and anything else that happens to come up.

Subscribe to Email Updates

Select list(s):

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Support PEL

Buy stuff through Amazon and send a few shekels our way at no extra cost to you.

Tweets by PartiallyExLife

Recent Comments

  • Seth Paskin on PEL Eulogies Nightcap Late March 2023
  • John Heath on PEL Eulogies Nightcap Late March 2023
  • Randy Strader on Ep. 309: Wittgenstein On Certainty (Part Two)
  • Wes Alwan on PEL Nightcap February 2023
  • Kunal on Why Don’t We Like Idealism?

About The Partially Examined Life

The Partially Examined Life is a philosophy podcast by some guys who were at one point set on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it. Each episode, we pick a text and chat about it with some balance between insight and flippancy. You don’t have to know any philosophy, or even to have read the text we’re talking about to (mostly) follow and (hopefully) enjoy the discussion

Become a PEL Citizen!

As a PEL Citizen, you’ll have access to a private social community of philosophers, thinkers, and other partial examiners where you can join or initiate discussion groups dedicated to particular readings, participate in lively forums, arrange online meet-ups for impromptu seminars, and more. PEL Citizens also have free access to podcast transcripts, guided readings, episode guides, PEL music, and other citizen-exclusive material. Click here to join.

Blog Post Categories

  • (sub)Text
  • Aftershow
  • Announcements
  • Audiobook
  • Book Excerpts
  • Citizen Content
  • Citizen Document
  • Citizen News
  • Close Reading
  • Combat and Classics
  • Constellary Tales
  • Exclude from Newsletter
  • Featured Ad-Free
  • Featured Article
  • General Announcements
  • Interview
  • Letter to the Editor
  • Misc. Philosophical Musings
  • Nakedly Examined Music Podcast
  • Nakedly Self-Examined Music
  • NEM Bonus
  • Not School Recording
  • Not School Report
  • Other (i.e. Lesser) Podcasts
  • PEL Music
  • PEL Nightcap
  • PEL's Notes
  • Personal Philosophies
  • Phi Fic Podcast
  • Philosophy vs. Improv
  • Podcast Episode (Citizen)
  • Podcast Episodes
  • Pretty Much Pop
  • Reviewage
  • Song Self-Exam
  • Supporter Exclusive
  • Things to Watch
  • Vintage Episode (Citizen)
  • Web Detritus

Follow:

Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | Apple Podcasts

Copyright © 2009 - 2023 · The Partially Examined Life, LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Copyright Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in