The art of judgement: thinking and writing in sixteenth-century France

Thesis

The art of judgement did not reside in a single codified theory. Rather, it was a shared preoccupation with the practice, limits, and possibilities of how to master the methods and ideals of rhetoric and dialectic that shaped early modern thought. This thesis explores the art of judgement, from the pedagogical writings of Erasmus, Agricola, Latomus, and Ramus, to its varied enactment in the works of Jean Bodin, Étienne Pasquier, and Michel de Montaigne. Part I reconstructs the pedagogical culture in which judgement was cultivated, showing how rhetorical and dialectical precepts were animated by a language of judgement that sought to grasp the very moments where rules and methods falter. One of the contentions of this thesis is that judgement was used to attend to the limits and edges of early modern discursive theory and practice—where literary abundance exceeds its bounds, where imitation strains against precedent, and where the commonplace method meets the act of intellectual agency. Part II moves from theory to practice, showing how Bodin, Pasquier, and Montaigne inherited and extended the ways of thinking and writing with judgement. Each of these writers framed and conceptualised their own intellectual practice using the language of judgement. Judgement emerges in different forms, from grasping logical order to the expression of one’s character. For Bodin, Pasquier, and Montaigne, judgement is the instrument that gathers together the centrifugal abundance of Renaissance learning into a centripetal art of making sense. By placing these three writers together, this thesis is able to use the art of judgement as a critical framework to explore both the family resemblances and the radical differences between their works. Understanding the uses of, and preoccupation with, judgement allows this thesis to recast the structure of sixteenth century thought.

Authors: Bernstein, E

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-pmaog2d8q
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Renaissance; early modern dialectic; Renaissance rhetoric; sixteenth-century france; education; judgement; logic; art of judgement; Montaigne; Bodin; intellectual history; humanism; Agricola; imitation; humanist; early modern France; early modern rhetoric; Pasquier; Erasmus; Renaissance dialectic; copia
• Subjects: Renaissance--France; Humanism; History; History of dialectic; Judgment; Early modern, 1500-1700; Intellectual history; European literature--Renaissance, 1450-1600; Renaissance; History of rhetoric; Judgment in literature; Renaissance dialectic; Rhetoric, Renaissance