Humanism as a way of life : Leon Battista Alberti and the legacy of Petrarch

• Published in: I Tatti studies Vol. 17; pp. 217 - 240
• Main Author: Zak, Gur
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.09.2014
• ISSN: 0393-5949
• DOI: 10.1086/678250

In this article I would like to explore the ways in which the Petrarchan ideal of the care of the self was absorbed and developed by one of his central followers in the Italian Renaissance--Leon Battista Alberti, who was born exactly a century after Petrarch in 1404. In works from the early 1430s to the 1440s, Alberti repeatedly emphasizes the obligation to attend to and shape oneself by means of various practices. Moreover, in his autobiographical "Vita," written probably in 1438 and published anonymously, Alberti dedicates a significant amount of the work to detailing his efforts to implement this ideal in his own life, shaping himself as an ethical subject. Yet although following the Petrarchan notion of self-care, Alberti also presents in his works a highly ambivalent attitude toward the central techniques of self-care advocated by Petrarch--namely, those of reading and writing--and develops what might be described as a humanist alternative. Whereas Petrarch's efforts to care for the self were primarily based on the ancient model of Seneca and relief chiefly on textual practices, Alberti draws in the "Vita" on an ancient Greek tradition of "philosophy as a way of life" and advances a process of care that is based mainly on experiential exercises that are enacted in real-life situations. [Abridged Publication Abstract]