Jacob Burckhardt – Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.

Burckhardt quotation on the birth of individualism in the Italian Renaissance

Leave a Comment / History / Stephen Hicks

A favorite from Jacob Burckhardt’s great The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860): In the Middle Ages, “Man was conscious of himself only as a member of a race, people, party, family, or corporation — only through some general category. In Italy this veil first melted into air; an objective treatment and consideration of […]

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Thankful

1 Comment / Fruits of the Enlightenment, History / Stephen Hicks

On this day, I am thankful in a way that history puts in perspective. Three quotations: From William Manchester, A World Lit Only By Fire, on life in medieval Europe: “Because most peasants lived and died without leaving their birthplace, there was seldom need for any tag beyond One-Eye, or Roussie (Redhead), or Bionda (Blondie),

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Burckhardt on Shiva, the god of destruction

3 Comments / Politics, Religion / Stephen Hicks

Among German intellectuals of the generation before and after 1900, there was widespread interest in Eastern religions. Jacob Burckhardt expresses one point of attraction: “Not without cause do the Indians worship Shiva, the God of destruction. Filled with the joy of destruction, wars clear the air like thunderstorms, they steel the nerves and restore the

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Individualism, and why I love the Renaissance

Leave a Comment / Ethics, History of Philosophy / Stephen Hicks

From Jacob Burckhardt’s great The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860): In the Middle Ages, “Man was conscious of himself only as a member of a race, people, party, family, or corporation — only through some general category. In Italy this veil first melted into air; an objective treatment and consideration of the state

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