Important Lessons to be Learned from Civic Humanism
By: Charles Stephen
Tags: Government, Society, Education, History, Florence

Aerial View of Florence, Itay — Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

The birth of Civic Humanism

Florentine leaders then created a new educational system that would prepare their people for various civic roles. And they called it Civic Humanism.

This new system chose ancient Rome as an inspirational model. They began by focusing on the existing similarities between Florence and ancient Rome. Many of these were based on reading classical authors. From this, they adopted the belief that reading these classics would build a stronger Florence.

Citizens must participate in society and politics

To adequately prepare each citizen for their political role using this new approach, they also revived the ancient Roman view of politics. The Florentines concluded that human development could only be optimized by participating in public affairs and politics.

They viewed politics as an opportunity for significant public dialogue. It was during these discussions that people could debate and learn from different points of view. An education based on rhetoric and philosophy was the best way to communicate effectively.

The Ghent Altarpiece: The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb painted by van Eyck — Image by Public Domain

Florence placed a high value on ethical politics

The objective of this new revolutionary educational system in Florence was to prepare every citizen for its civic role within their society. And they viewed philosophy and rhetoric as the two main categories of education.

Moral philosophy was the basis for making sound ethical decisions. They believed that every decision, especially those of a political nature, were basically moral. The study of rhetoric gave its people the powerful communication skills needed to convey their thoughts and ideas to others.

The Florentine society believes that citizens were not complete until they cultivated the ability to make sound judgments, followed by the powerful skills to communicate them. In Latin, these two skills were referred to as sapientia et eloquentia, or ‘knowledge and eloquence.’

Embracing the classics

The leaders of Florence held tight to the belief that reading the classics was the best way to learn moral philosophy and eloquence. But a massive problem for them was that many of those classics were not readily available.

Unfortunately, many of them were destroyed when barbarians invaded the late Roman Empire. Several others were hastily stashed in monastic libraries and various locations for safekeeping, only to be forgotten and lost.

Fortunately for the Florentines, they did have a small number of classics with which to begin their quest in Civic Humanism. These few classics happened to be available because rhetoric was taught in medieval universities.

The Birth of the Virgin Mary, Painted by Domenico Ghirlandaio — Image by Public Domain

The progression of Civic Humanism

During the early Middle Ages, rhetoric was taught by memorizing long passages of Latin prose that expressed ideas and emotion. This was how a scholar learned to write good letters and make good public speeches as portions of these passages could be pasted directly into them.

The teaching of rhetoric sharply changed later in the Middle Ages. Rather than relying on memorization, students learned how to mimic the styles of the great classical authors. This meant that a thorough reading of the classics was mandatory.

It is important to stress here that these works were read primarily for how they were written, not so much for what was written. The humanists during those days understood that this practice would help them answer the most pressing questions facing their society.

The evolution and structure of Civic Humanism

The basic structure of the Civic Humanist education was, in many ways, a rehashing of the ancient Roman educational system. The system believed by the Romans to be best suited for their citizens was known as the liberal arts. There were seven subjects within these liberal arts, and those subjects were organized under a pair of subheadings.

The first subheading was called the Trivium and contained three subjects. They included Latin grammar, logic, and rhetoric, which were the arts of communication. These eventually became known as the eloquentia of Humanist education.

The second subheading consisted of four subjects and was called the Quadrivium. The topics in this group were geometry, mathematics, music, and astronomy. These subjects were considered to be the content of the knowledge to be communicated to others. They became known as the Humanist sapientia. Humanists later added a few more subjects to this group, such as poetry, history, and literature.

The Humanists referred to their educational system as the Studia Humanitatis, which means the ‘study of the humanities’ or the study of being human.

A university class, Bologna painted by Laurentius de Voltolina — Image by Public Domain

Lessons learned from Civic Humanism

The overall objective of this Humanist education was enabling people to achieve their full human potential. When people learn to be their very best, they also become the best citizens.

The leaders of Florence exhibited extraordinary wisdom in preventing future invasions. Rather than building higher city walls or investing in the military, they placed more value on the human will and intellect. Here are some valuable lessons to be learned from this remarkable society that existed over 600 years ago.