Erasmus.The illegitimate son of the priest
Erasmus was intellectually brilliant but also very humble and witty. Erasmus and More are both products of the northon Renaissance. Russell says that neiher were philosophers 'in the strict sense of the word' (Russell 1946) but they are important figures in the pre-revolutionary times; they helped to react againts scholasticism which is a strong Christian idealogy based on Aristotle.
Erasmus surpassed his schoolmaster in Latin. He attented the University of Paris for a while but didn't find his time there to be helpful. Erasmus didn't actually enjoy philosophy, Plato or Aristotle.
He discovered the pleasure in 'kissing girls' (Russell 1946) in the year 1499. This is when he made friends with More 'who encouraged him to undertake serious work' (Russell 1946). Erasmus wanted to comment on the Bible but realised that he needed Greek, so in 1550 he set out to learn some, he was fluent after two years of study. He worked on some translations, tried to learn Hebrew but 'gave it up' (Russell 1946).
Erasmus wrote a book 'The Praise of Folly', folly is impersonated as a woman who sings her own praises and expresses that happiness is found through loving oneself. Erasmus also makes fun of national pride in his writing; those who get happiness from their own conceited selves.There are some pieces of writing that suggest that Erasmus would have welcomed the Reformation, this is however not so. His book concludes with the statement that 'true religion is a form of Folly' (Russell 1946)
Bibliography:
Russel,B (1946). The History of Western Philosophy. London: Routledge. Page 472, 473, 474
RENAISSANCE HUMANISM, CATHOLICISM,
AND THOMAS MORE (online) (last accessed 4 November 2009). Available at:
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