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Lorenzo Valla (1407–1457)

Author of On the Donation of Constantine

52+ Works 343 Members 4 Reviews 1 Favorited

About the Author

A distinguished historian, humanist, and classical scholar, Lorenzo Valla was also the author of several works of philosophical importance. Born in Rome, he counted among his teachers Leonardo Bruni and the great humanist educator Vittorino da Feltre. He was ordained a priest in 1431, taught show more rhetoric briefly, then traveled through northern Italy before accepting a position as secretary to Alfonso I, King of Naples, with whom he remained for more than a decade. In 1448 he moved to Rome and accepted a position as a papal notary. Valla's most renowned scholarly accomplishment was his exposure of the famous "Donation of Constantine" as a forgery. This document had long been cited in support of papal claims to temporal authority in Italy; Valla's careful analysis showed it to be spurious. His Elegantiae, composed between 1435 and 1444 and first published in 1471, set the standard of correct Latin style for generations. As a philosopher he is remembered for the dialogue On Pleasure, also known as On the True Good (c.1434), which defends pleasure---interpreted as the beatitude to be enjoyed by Christians in the life to come---as the highest good, rejecting the Stoic ideal of virtue. His On Free Will deals with the apparent conflict between divine foreknowledge and human freedom, rejecting the standard medieval solution derived from Boethius and proposing Valla's own, which Leibniz would later praise. He criticizes scholastic theology and expresses reservations about reason's capacity to provide answers to ultimate metaphysical questions. In his Dialectical Disputations, Valla mounted an attack on Aristotelian logic and put forward his own novel alternative based on classical Latin usage. Valla serves as an example of a Renaissance humanist whose philosophical interests carried him beyond a merely stylistic rejection of medieval scholasticism. The Renaissance Philosophy of Man, edited by Ernst Cassirer and others, contains a translation of Valla's On Free Will. (See "General Works" at the beginning of this chapter.) (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the name: Laurentius Valla

Works by Lorenzo Valla

On the Donation of Constantine (1993) 154 copies, 1 review
Humanismo y Renacimiento (1994) 13 copies, 1 review
L'arte della grammatica (1990) 12 copies
Il piacere 2 copies

Associated Works

The Portable Renaissance Reader (1953) — Contributor — 578 copies, 2 reviews

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Birthdate
1407
Date of death
1457
Gender
male

Members

Reviews

5 reviews
HUMANISMO Y RENACIMIENTO

Rasgo definitorio de la cultura del Renacimiento
europeo, el humanismo es una corriente de
pensamiento y de sensibilidad que no se presta a
definiciones sencillas o indiscutibles. En cualquier caso,
el ideal educativo de los humanistas, dominante hasta el
siglo XVIII, ha perdurado aunque sea parcialmente
hasta nuestros días. Por lo demás, la busca
contemporánea de nuevos modelos, nuevas formas de
sociedad y nuevas interpretaciones del mundo, de la
naturaleza y del hombre show more dirige también la mirada a la
época renacentista, que asumió como propios y formuló
de manera creadora los valores de la antigüedad
clásica. HUMANISMO Y RENACIMIENTO
-antología prologada, traducida y anotada por
PEDRO R. SANTIDRIAN ha seleccionado los
textos más representativos de siete eminentes
representantes de ese espíritu, que irradió su influencia
desde Florencia al resto de Italia y de Europa durante
los siglos xv y xVI: LORENZO VALLA, MARSILIO
FICINO, ANGELO POLIZIANO, GIOVANNI PIcO
DELLA MIRANDOLA, PIETRO POMPONAZZI,
BALTASAR CASTIGLIONE y FRANCESCO
GUICCIARDINI. Además de la introducción general,
cada selección va precedida de una nota biográfica y de
un resumen del contenido y del propósito del texto
antologizado.
show less
Riferimenti: Baudrier VIII p. 65 A cura di Christoph von Carlowitz, il cui nome appare nella pref Marche sul front. (S211) e in fine (L80443) Cors. ; gr. ; rom Segn.: a-z⁸A-Z⁸2a-2f⁸2g⁴ Iniziali xil Contiene di Lorenzo Valla: Antidoti in Pogium lib. 4; In Pogium dialogi 2; In errores Antonij Raudensis adnotationes; Ad Alphonsum regem epistola apologetica; Inuectiuarum, siue recriminationum in Benedictum Morandum lib. 2; Inuectiuarum, siue recriminationum in Barptolomaeum Facium & show more Antonium Panhormitam, lib. 4; In Bartoli de insignijs & armis libellus, ad Candidum Decembrem epistola. show less

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Works
52
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Popularity
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Rating
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ISBNs
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Languages
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