In Praise of Folly

إن المحب لا تعيش روحه في جسده بل في الأشياء التي يحبها وكلما تنقلت في هذه الأشياء زادت سعادته وعندما يحاول العقل أن يسيطر على الجسد يفشل وهنا نلقبه بالجنون.

'Praise of Folly' is a satirical essay in which the 'writer' (Folly) praises itself and despises wisdom and wise men. Thus Erasmus draws the readers' attention to and criticises the numerous human weaknesses flourishing in different spheres of social and professional life.
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'Wisdom makes men weak and apprehensive, and consequently you'll generality find the wise associated with poverty, hunger, and the reek of smoke, living neglected, inglorious, and disliked. Fools, on the other hand, are rolling in money and are put in charge of affairs of state; they flourish, in short, in every way.'
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'Life is nothing but one continued interlude of Folly.'
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'Briefly, no society, no association of people in this world can be happy or last long without my help; no people would put up with their prince, no master endure his servant, no maid her mistress, no teacher his pupil, no friend his friend, no wife her husband, no landlord his tenant, no soldier his drinking-buddy, no lodger his fellow-lodger -unless they were mistaken, both at the same time or turn and turn about, in each other.'
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'But I make such good use of human ignorance and imbecility, playing sometimes on forgetfulness of evils and other times on hope of good, sprinkling in a bit of pleasure here and there, that I bring mankind some relief from their accumulated woes.'

FOLLY IN PROFUSION, BY ALL MEANS

“Invite a wise man to a feast and he'll spoil the company, either with morose silence or troublesome disputes. Take him out to dance, and you'll swear a cow would have done it better."


An allegory of Folly, Quentin Massys, 1510

“Throw off the shackles this infernal quest for wisdom has put on you, you blasted bores!”

Slightly paraphrased, so goes the core tenet of the gospel that most whimsical of metaphysical entities, Folly – using Erasmus as a vessel - evangelizes to her audience, which - if we can trust the veracity of her words - has huddled together in the town square to hear her speak. At first, apprehension is palpable in the air, but when the lady finally makes her appearance, her sheer outlandish aspect brings delight to all. She has them in the palm of her hand.

What follows is a feverish spectacle.

Fiercely denouncing the detritus that rigid intellectualism unavoidably leads to, as an antidote Folly offers up a passionate apologia for unadulterated joie de vivre, all delivered in a dizzying, bordering on logorrheic, machine gun rhythm.

Consciously self-aggrandizing, Folly is claiming sole responsibility for all the enjoyments and fruits life has provided to us poor, miserable sinners. Simultaneously, and in the most seemingly guileless manner conceivable, our gifted orator effectively is laying waste to the - in 16th century Europe again in vogue - school of thought which was gifted to us by the ancient Greeks.

To her, what matter such studious men as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Diogenes? Puh! Drivel! And what about their Roman successors, that famous stoic Seneca, or that "paragon of wisdom", emperor Marcus Aurelius? In their faces she spits! No, she'll take playwrights of comedies and satirists, glorious scribes such as Aristophanes, Juvenal and Apuleius over them any day. Great, salt of the earth type chaps, all. They saw the common sense in giving oneself over to sweet, soothing folly.

Not content with slaying these sacred cows, even she dares to conclude her rant by firing off a critique of the stodgy, yet still powerful, Catholic clergy. Our impish friend might as well have lighted the Pope’s mitre on fire during Midnight Mass on Christmas, and achieve the same effect.

One can only imagine the initial bafflement experienced at all this being flung with such ferocity at a crowd during the height of the early Renaissance. Compared to everything which they had been taught to respect, this is a radical message, just as Jesus' gospel was in its day. But this sure looked like a most unorthodox picture of a messiah, let alone a redeemer.

Additional reservations crop up. After all, folly isn’t supposed to be a good thing, now is it? Isn’t its presumed opposite, wisdom, to be sought wherever it can be found? We call them pearls of wisdom for a reason, don’t we? Pearls are pristine, beautiful, perfected smoothness, something to be treasured. And if not for any immediate practical reason, isn’t its acquisition, its exchange with others, a deep pleasure of its own?

On each and every count, “no!”, Folly exclaims. It spells doom for every chance at emotional, spiritual, even material prosperity. Be foolish, be unthinking, act impulsively, and earthy paradise is yours. If you do, you'd be adhering to the original Christian message to boot, and be rewarded in the afterlife as well, she adds, setting the minds of her fellow Christians at ease.

Jesus' apostles, to her, weren't deep thinkers ( and were never supposed to be), but instead acted instinctual, like a child would. They merely saw a simple truth being revealed to them, and found peace and contentment from that alone, no further inquiry was needed. Shooting above their station, trying to be more than they were, to know more than they did, didn't even cross their minds. Fools? Perhaps. Yet, on the whole, deliriously happy, even in the most dire of circumstances, such as during the early persecution of their sect.

As a panegyric, In Praise of Folly is nothing short of exemplary, even if you don't remotely agree with its premise. But it can only be considered as such, when taken at face value. It's never entirely clear whether one should do so.

A first suspicion arises when a subtle undercurrent of irony is detected, precisely because of the exaggerated, almost baroque delivery. It is as if Erasmus, rightly foreseeing controversy, is deftly using the form of satire, just in case he is threatened with excommunication or worse. For that reason too, if a finely balanced, systematically laid out philosophical text is what you seek, this most assuredly isn’t any of the kind. It's exceedingly rambling at times. But by Jove is it joyful, bitingly funny, endlessly insightful, speaking of those all-important, perennial human truths.

And isn't it exactly this approach which, if the one addressed willingly opens himself up to it, is the spark needed to ignite, to force him to reassess his most cherished of virtues? For a former - now gratefully reformed - idolater of wisdom, it did just that.

We'll end on a sweet note. Folly, my darling, I misjudged you and, most shamefully, even derided your works in the past, thoughtless grinch that I am. For this grievous error amends have to be made. Let's have a drink - my treat, promise! - get bloody sauced, and be joined in merriment together.

Huzzah!

”But no one gives thanks for his recovery from folly. So sweet a thing it is not to be wise that, on the contrary, men rather pray against anything than folly.”

In Praise of Folly is a multi-layered satire in which Erasmus brilliantly showcased his wit, whimsy and erudition. His clever antics began with the title (Moriae Encomium, in its original Latin) which conveys a double meaning — In Praise of Folly and In Praise of More. He wrote the piece during a week spent in the home of his friend, Thomas More.

The work opens with the goddess Folly introducing herself with her impressive lineage, and continuing on to praise her works as the greatest boons to humanity, responsible for everything from simple pleasure to the fact that procreation happens. Through this devise, Erasmus tweaks and mocks superstitions and abuses of the Church, of the Scholastics, and particularly of the monks and hermits. But the scope of his satire extended to European society as a whole, encompassing everything from marriage and motherhood to gambling.

Though his satire is generally seen as a satirical thrashing (with a light and humorous switch) of abuses Erasmus perceived in his culture and Church, there are places in Folly’s recitation of her blessings where it almost seems that Erasmus intends her words to be taken seriously rather than as satire, and I found myself wondering if this wise and clever man was channeling the Preacher, from Ecclesiastes, where he said:

Be not righteous overmuch; neither make thyself over wise; why shouldest thou destroy thyself?
Ecclesiastes 7:16

Muhteşem bir yapıt nasıl olduda bunca sene bu eseri gözden kaçırmışım bilmiyorum elimin altında bulunması gereken bir eser bir değil binlerce defa okumak isterim. yakın zamanda blogda yazacam detaylıca.

ديسيدروس إراسموس هو فيلسوف هولندي من رواد الحركة الإنسانية في أوروبا _عصر النهضة_، يقارن بأسلوب مرح _على لسان مفهوم الحماقة_ بين الحكمة والحماقة وأثر كل واحدة منهما على حياة الشخص سواء كان فقيرا أو غنيا، ملكا أو راهبا، رجلا أو امرأة، فيقول: "إنه لا يوجد شيء ليس له فائدة مثل الحكمة وإذا سُعي للربح فإن الجاهل ينال الرزق والحكيم لا يناله شيء لأنه لن يقبل بالربا ولا الغش ولا الكذب".
فيرى أن الحماقة مرتبطة بالسعادة أكثر من الحكمة لأن الأحمق يقول ما يريد وقت ما يريد ولا يجمل الكلمات أو الأحداث، وهو غالبا سعيد لا يقحم تفكيره بمعقدات الأمور مثل الحكيم المغتمّ دائم التفكير واجترار الهموم.
المتحدث هنا هي الحماقة، تارة تمدح نفسها وتارة تكيل للحمقى الشتائم، لكن ما فهمته بالنهاية أننا في أوقات نحتاج أن نكون حمقى كي نستطيع مسايرة الحياة وأحيانا لا بد أن نكتسي ثوب الحكمة "تحكيم العقل" حين يتطلب الموقف ذلك.

Impecable la erudición de Erasmo. Te invita a una gran reflexión sobre las conductas humanas . Tan vigente como hace 500 años. Es una lectura relativamente corta , se lee muy bien, se aprende bastante porque nos entrega muchos nombres de la mitología griega. Sin duda muy recomendable.

Erasmus' Folly

I received the Folio Society edition of Erasmus' "In Praise of Folly" some time ago as a gift which gave me the opportunity to reread the work after a first reading many years ago. The Folio Society edition is lavishly put together in a slipcase, with large print, on quality paper, and with beautiful color illustrations and made a lovely gift. For reading purposes, however, this Penguin edition will do just as well. With the exception of the artwork, it includes the same material as the folio edition -- the introductions, translations, notes, and Erasmus' "Letter to Martin Van Dorp". "In Praise of Folly" rewards reading and rereading.

Erasmus (1466 - 1536) wrote the book in 1509 while he was recovering from an illness and revised and expanded the work some years later. He dedicated the work to his friend and fellow-scholar Sir Thomas Moore. The book was translated from the Latin for this edition by Betty Radice (1912 -- 1985) who tutored in philosophy, classics, and English before she became joint editor of Penguin Classics in 1964.

"In Praise of Folly" can be read as a work addressing issues of its time in the Renaissance and Reformation, but the work's significance goes beyond the events of the day. It is a delight to read and still has much to teach.

The work is a satire and a long speech delivered by Folly, the illegitimate daughter of avarice and freshness, in praise of herself and of her pervasive influence on human life. At first, Folly is a satirical figure and the reader and the author aren't meant to like her much. She points out the endless lust, greed, and self-aggrandizement committed under her influence as opposed to the use of reason. Folly talks about the power of sexuality and money-making which are her children. There are sharp, incisive portrayals of in influence of emotion and folly throughout human life from the cradle to the grave. Folly bitingly satirizes professions and nations for their pompousness and partiality to themselves. The book still packs a sting. For example, here is Folly's characterization of my former profession of lawyer.

"Amongst the learned the lawyers claim first place, the most self-satisfied class of people, as they roll their rock of Sisyphus and string together six hundred laws in the same breath, no matter whether relevant or not, piling up opinion on opinion and gloss on gloss to make their profession seem the most difficult of all. Anything which causes trouble has special merit in their eyes."

As Folly proceeds with her speech, she turns gradually to political and religious leaders and academics. The satire becomes more biting as Folly criticizes the ignorance, violence, and greed, and bigotry that she finds in much of the Church and secular leadership of the time. Folly criticizes as well scholastic Aristotelianism and what she sees as its tendency to quibble over minutiae and to ignore the nature of Christianity and the religious life. This portion of the book resulted in a great deal of controversy during Erasmus' lifetime and beyond.

Finally, in the last several pages of the book, Erasmus appears to reverse himself. Instead of criticizing and satirizing the impact of folly on human life, Erasmus seems to in fact praise folly's influence. He alludes to Scripture and to Plato to discuss who wisdom is found in folly and even madness, by which he seems to mean simplicity, humility, and faith, rather than in puffing up one's own self and one's own understanding. With all the learning of the book, Erasmus wants his readers and his Church to return to what he sees as the simplicity of the Gospel and the hope for eternal life. That is the ultimate lesson his "Folly" has to teach.

The book is beautifully written but full of learning and of classical and Scriptural allusions that many readers will find unfamiliar. This edition includes footnotes which explain Erasmus' references in detail. Most readers will find these notes highly useful in getting inside a work which otherwise would be difficult to follow. Among the many writers Erasmus quotes is Virgil. Here is a passage from the book quoting the "Aeneid" with an understanding of folly much like Folly's own.

"Had I a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths,
A voice of iron, I could not count the types
Of fool, nor yet enumerate the names
Of every kind of folly."

Erasmus' 1515 letter to Van Dorp was new to me and is worth reading. Erasmus emphasizes the religious nature of his writing, advises has friend to learn to study the Scriptures in their original languages, and rejects the charge that his satire disrespects religion or specific persons. The letter is a valuable supplement to reading and understanding "In Praise of Folly".

I was glad to have the opportunity to reread this book after many years. It will reward the attention of every thoughtful reader. "In Praise of Folly" deserves its stature as a classic.

Robin Friedman