The Stages of Man
(1510), by Charles de Bouelles (c.
1470-1553)
This diagram illustrates as well as any a humanist conception of human
virtues. It establishes a series of parallels between incremental states
of being in nature, with its correponding verb, and their counterpart
in the human condition. Thus simply exist (Est), like a stone,
is to be like a sluggard; to merely live (Vivit), like a plant,
corresponds to a life of gluttony; to merely feel (Sensit), as
a horse can, is to be nothing more than a vain person (Sensualis),
to live by the dictates of Luxuria; but to understand (Intellegit),
is a human does or ought to, is live as a scholar. The summit of human
possibility, in short, is to live the life of the mind. This was the
framework for Bouelles study of the human condition, Liber de sapiente,
published in 1510.
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The Stages of Man, from Charles de
Bouelles, Liber de sapiente (1510). |