"Know thyself" was also a standard motto found in sixteenth-century anatomy textbooks both continental and insular. However, these scientific texts defined self-knowledge in firmly material ways. Thomas Gemini's London-produced plagiarism of Vesalius' _Fabrica_ is a case in point. In the 1559 edition translated into English by Nicholas Udall and Richard Eden, the dedicatory epistles assert that Gemini's engravings of dissected human cadavers will help us "Knowe our selues" by "perfectley settyng forth all and syngular the Bones, Ioyntes, Vaynes, Arteries, Synowes, Muscles, or Brawnes, Tendons, and Ligamentes of mannes bodye." This will lead to a greater wisdom about the sacred and profane realms, as well: "who so in all partes learneth to knowe himselfe, may thereby come to no smale knowledge of God and all his creatures." Know your innards, and know creation.
Best,
Kat
Kat Lecky
Assistant Professor
Department of English and Philosophy
Arkansas State University
________________________________________
From: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of James C. Nohrnberg [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, July 29, 2013 3:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Know thyself
Re: Know Thyself, (Re-)Interpreted.
The theologized character of self-knowledge is a later
classical idea too. The Delphic maxim seems originally to
suggest we recognize our human limitations, out of
deference to our divine betters; but Ludwig Edlestein, in
The idea of Progress in Classical Antiquity (Hopkins:
1967), says that later Hellenistic (and pre-Christian)
readings re-interpreted the saying as saying that "man is
akin to God, that this kinship allows him like the divine
demiurge to fashion the world, and that the performance of
this task is the truly human obligation." (Op. cit., p.
179.) In other words, the saying advises (or can advise)
that one know (with)in himself the dignity of man.
And thus the saying can mean either "know thy
limitations," or, nearly the opposite, "know thy
potential." [Compare, for another such opposite,
Ferdinand Pessoa, "I cannot connect myself with myself"
(Book of Disquiet, Mac Adam tr., 131; note schizoid affect
in this author/persona), and cp. same author's "Do not
expect {or ask} more than is in you."]
Humanists like Erasmus opposed self-knowledge to
(ignorant) self-love. It is thus a significant gnome in
Rabelais' Third Book, where Panurge is trying to decide
whether or not to marry (and, more satirically, what will
happen if he does--and is more or less inevitably destined
to be a cuckold): at the center (ch. 25 of 52) is the
consultation with Herr Trippa (= the theologically-minded
magus Heinrich Cornelilus Agrippa von Nettesheim).
Panurge says this cuckolded sage and oracle "doesn't know
the first point of philosophy, which is: Know thyself.
he's so proud of seeing the mote in another's eye that he
doesn't see a great beam poking out both his own" [= a
cuckold's horns]. (Cohen trans. p. 357.) Epistemon, a
few pages earlier, has said people commonly see the faults
and misfortunes of others, but remain (self-pleasingly)
ignorant of their own. Later on, but not that much nearer
the end of the book and its quizzical quest, the verses of
the poet Raminagrobis are interpreted by Pantagruel to
mean "that in the matter of marriage everyone should be
his own judge and take counsel with himself" and, contra
Panurge, not be "misled by philauty - by self-love, that
is." (Cohen tr. 369).
Apart from the Nic. Ethics, self-knowledge is recommended
in Aristotle's Magna Moralia 1213a10-26: but in connection
with friendship ("...if, then, it is pleasant to know
oneself, and it is not possible to know this without
having someone else for a friend, the self-sufficing man
will require friendship in order to know himself" (tr.
Stock; compare Plato on the mirror of another self, in his
Alcibiades, 132c-133c). This seems critical for
understanding the company being kept in the Tiers Livre.
Earlier note: A golden volume in the Skira's Art Ideas
History series, Andre Chastel's Myth of the Renaissance
(1969) (tr. Stuart Gilbert), on p. 141, bottom right,
pairs illustrations of Durer's "The Human Figure Measured"
with Francesco di Giorgio Martini's "Study of the
Proportions of a Basilica in Relation to the Human Body,"
from a codex in the National Library in Florence. (The
brain would be in the [easternmost] chapel [upper two
thirds of the head] behind the building's central space,
the heart at the altar-like center from which the squared
circle and torso radiate; the legs cover the main aisle
between the run of pillars, the feet occupying the
[western] threshold.) On the grid (it's like the
quadratura of graph paper) the basillica is nine squares
in length, the height of the superinscribed human figure;
the shoulders become arms and chest at the seventh square.
(This seems to accord more with the Varronic canon, eight
face lengths plus extras for a ninth.) (Durer's
illustration is more Vitruvian, as it shows its human
figure's arm extended, fingertips level with the top of
the head, to touch the edge of a circle centered on the
figure's navel, which circle also encloses the human
figure's feet, resting on its nadir.) The body's
configuration as a basilica would seem to emphasize the
potential for divinity within the human.
--Jim N.
On Mon, 29 Jul 2013 12:59:49 -0400
David Miller <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm writing with a belated response to the excellent
>replies so many list
> members offered to my query about Sidney's notion of
>*architektonike*.
>
> Judith Anderson referred me to Robert E. Stillman's
>excellent study of the *
> Defense*, and although it took me a while to get my
>hands on a copy, there
> I found what I was looking for. Rob argues that Sidney,
>working out of
> Melancthon and his circle, turns Aristotle's notion of
>self-knowledge in a
> distinctly reformed direction when he says that its
>highest form is to know
> "our divine essence." This specifically theological
>background to Sidney's
> argument suits my purposes to a T.
>
> Thanks to all for your responses!
>
> David
>
>
> On Sat, Jul 20, 2013 at 7:58 AM, Tuggle, Brad
><[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Another Sidneian reference: Correspondence (ed. Kuin),
>>vol. 2, p. 981-82.
>>
>> Letter to Edward Denny, 22 May 1580.
>>
>> "The knowledge of our selves no doubte ought to be most
>>pretious vnto vs .
>> . ." (981).
>>
>> On virtues and their contraries: "And therof are many
>>bookes written ; but
>> to my pleasing Aristotles Ethickes passe ; but he is
>>something darke and
>> hath need of a Logicall examination" (982).
>>
>> The index omits this reference to Aristotle, so it could
>>be missed by
>> those not reading Kuin from cover to cover.
>>
>> See also Languet's comments on Aristotle's difficulty at
>>1:123, and
>> Sidney's desire to read the Greek instead of relying on
>>commentaries at
>> 1:106.
>>
>> Brad Tuggle
>> Assistant Professor
>> Honors College
>> University of Alabama
>> Box 870169
>> Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
>> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>>
>> On Jul 18, 2013, at 11:20 PM, "Judith H. Anderson"
>><[log in to unmask]
>> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>>
>> After Rob’s response, I’ll dare to venture to mention
>>his discussion(s) of
>> the concept architectonike in his wonderful book Philip
>>Sidney and the
>> Poetics of Renaissance Cosmopolitanism. If memory
>>serves, he relates the
>> concept to Melanchthon—Philippist piety, which would tie
>>in with the
>> biblical injunction you cite. I imagine you know the
>>book, but it might be
>> worth another look if you read it some time ago, as did
>>I.
>>
>> Judith
>>
>> From: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List
>>[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>> On Behalf Of Stillman, Robert E
>> Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2013 4:30 PM
>> To:
>>[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>> Subject: Re: Sidney and architectonike
>>
>> That is a terrific question, and and an important one
>>for getting right
>> Sidney's notions about how and why poetry does its work.
>>Answering it well
>> would mean looking hard at those contemporary sources
>>through which
>> Aristotle's Ethics were mediated for him. You might
>>want to have a look at
>> Joachim Camerarius the Elder's commentaries on the
>>Ethics, posthumously
>> published by Andreas Wechel's press in Frankfurt after
>>Sidney's request to
>> his sons for its publication. Sidney didn't read
>>Aristotle as we do. He
>> read him through the specific lens of a particular brand
>>of reformed
>> humanism that found one of its most learned expressions
>>in Camerarius--also
>> the translator of the Cyropaedia, which is another of
>>Wechel's
>> publications. The commentary has a useful, searchable
>>index both for Greek
>> terms and for Latin. You might have a look there for
>>architectonike and
>> entelecheia, and then compare notes on what Camerarius
>>has to say about
>> energeia--a good Aristotelian term appearing some
>>600-plus times in the
>> corpus, and of some real interest to Camerarius and to
>>Sidney where
>> concepts of the self and self -knowledge and the work
>>(energon) of becoming
>> or making or knowing a self matter.
>>
>> I hope the suggestion helps, and apologise for my
>>short-hand notes, but
>> I'm traveling right now and away from my books.
>>
>> Rob
>>
>>
>> I'm writing to ask whether anyone knows of a precedent
>>for Sidney's gloss
>> on 'architectonike' as self-knowledge.
>>
>> It looks like he's putting together two classical
>>passages: Aristotle on
>> the master-science, which he compares to architecture
>>because other forms
>> of techne are controlled by it as workmen are controlled
>>by the architect;
>> and Plato on the Delphic oracle's "know thyself."
>>
>> What I'm wondering--if this interpretation passes
>>muster--is whether
>> Sidney is making this leap himself, or repeating
>>something fairly
>> commonplace. It doesn't look to me as if Aristotle's
>>'architectonike' is
>> really about self-knowledge in Aristotle; and Sidney's
>>way of glossing the
>> term ("which stands as I think, in the knowledge of a
>>man's self") seems to
>> imply that he's the one drawing this conclusion.
>>
>> --
>> David Lee Miller
>> University of South Carolina
>> Columbia, SC 29208
>> (803) 777-4256
>> FAX 777-9064
>> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>> Center for Digital Humanities<http://www.cdh.sc.edu/>
>> Faculty Web
>>Page<http://www.cas.sc.edu/engl/people/pages/miller.html>
>> Dreams of the Burning Child<
>> http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100865590&CFID=8776879&CFTOKEN=5f96265f3e78e4c1-CD8CDD45-C29B-B0E5-3A132DAF587030F4&jsessionid=8430cfc86f9c780302f52b2158647f227d5dTR
>> >
>> A Touch More
>>Rare<http://www.fordhampress.com/detail.html?id=9780823230303
>> >
>>
>
>
>
> --
> David Lee Miller
> University of South Carolina
> Columbia, SC 29208
> (803) 777-4256
>FAX 777-9064
> [log in to unmask]
> Center for Digital Humanities <http://www.cdh.sc.edu/>
>Faculty Web Page
><http://www.cas.sc.edu/engl/people/pages/miller.html>
> *Dreams of the Burning
> Child<http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100865590&CFID=8776879&CFTOKEN=5f96265f3e78e4c1-CD8CDD45-C29B-B0E5-3A132DAF587030F4&jsessionid=8430cfc86f9c780302f52b2158647f227d5dTR>
> *
> *A Touch More
>Rare<http://www.fordhampress.com/detail.html?id=9780823230303>
> *
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James Nohrnberg
Dept. of English, Bryan Hall 219
Univ. of Virginia
P.O Box 400121
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121
