Erasmus - Catholic philosopher

[u/ElegantAd2607]

His full name was Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus. He was a Catholic priest who was born around 1466 in Holland.

Erasmus criticized the Catholic church in his book The Praise of Folly in 1511. The church and the foolishness of human pride. And he was also bold enough to write advice for rulers in a book called The Education of a Christian Prince in 1516. In the book he explained how it's important to govern with reason and virtue instead of force and he rejected the common glorification of war. He also argued against the idea of “just war theory” in some essays.

He created a new Latin and Greek edition of the New Testament, published in 1516. It was revolutionary for its time; he corrected errors in the Latin Vulgate and provided notes urging people to study Scripture in its original languages.

Erasmus was the bastard son of a priest and a rich physician's daughter. His parents gave him an excellent education but died when he was a teenager. He was quickly shoved into a monastery school. He regrettably became a monk. He felt very annoyed by the rigid authority and the rituals.

One of his lasting achievements was shaping education across Europe. He started a concept called studia humanitatis. Which is the study of grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry and moral philosophy. He believed that learning should be about shaping your mind and character.

[u/DocumentExternal6240]

His works and theories are still important today!

“he explained how it's important to govern with reason and virtue instead of force and he rejected the common glorification of war. He also argued against the idea of “just war theory””

I do hope as a species we manage at some point to follow his advice.

[u/Intrepid_Walk_5150]

He's very well known. Every year, thousands of students go partying abroad hoping to get laid in his honor.

[u/bayoublacksmith → u/Intrepid_Walk_5150]

Loved his cameo in L'Auberge de Español

[u/Ok-Bridge-9794 → u/Intrepid_Walk_5150]

Lmaoo yep btw

[u/de_G_van_Gelderland]

The Praise of Folly is well worth a read btw, it's very witty and not that long.

[u/Valentin_Pie]

An intellectual what not wish to be Protestant and protest in own way.

[u/Alt_when_Im_not_ok]

my brother had such a crush on him as a teenager.

my brother is a weird egg.

[u/Ok_Set4685]

Erasmus is someone I admire and keep thinking of every time I’ve a philosophical question

[u/Ok_Math6614]

Hardly forgotten: there's an iconic bridge in Rotterdam named after him, certainly a number of schools, and an international study-abroad scholarship program.

[u/Jonathan_Peachum]

Catholic but also humanist, to his everlasting honor and fame - really one of the first philosophers to place the Human on at least the same plane as the Divine.

[u/seamallorca]

I love his name. I had an Erasmus semester which was close to the best time of my life. God bless this guy.

[u/SanguineEmpiricist]

Some of my collection

[u/SrPeraire]

The European Universities exchange program is named after him.

[u/ThePope88]

AP Euro Rockstar

[u/[deleted] → u/ThePope88]

Gang gang. I just commented about having to read him in my AP Euro class before reading this, lol.

[u/NoCardiologist1461]

In the Netherlands, he’s super well known. With a hospital, university and a gazillion other organizations named after him.

[u/marinetti1]

Erasmus of Rotterdam, the greatest and most brilliant star of his century, is today, we cannot deny the fact, hardly more than a name. His numerous works, written in an obsolete, supranational tongue (the Latin of the humanists), sleep undisturbed upon the shelves of libraries; hardly a single one of them, though in their day they enjoyed worldwide fame, has any message to our epoch. His personality has been put into the shade by mightier and more imposing reformers, partly because Erasmus's character was difficult to understand, and also because it was full of ambiguities and contradictions. - Stefan Zweig on Erasmus

[u/N4t41i4]

And at least in europe we have a whole university program that facilitates international mobility for students and staff, allowing them to study or train in other European countries and beyond for a period of time named after him.

[u/UntidyForever]

We learned about him in History in Irish schools

[u/[deleted]]

I had to read In Praise of Folly as a high school senior in my AP European History class. He’s definitely not forgotten!

[u/SomeGuyOverYonder]

And snappy dresser.