Western Civilization I / Unit 13 WC1 1233 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Classifying a Thinker: Scholastic, Humanist, Political Theorist, Reformer-Scholar
The idea
The exam describes a position and asks what kind of thinker holds it. The method is two questions: what authority does the thinker use, and what is the goal. Scholastic: Aristotle's logic applied to scripture, to defend doctrine. Humanist: the classics read for eloquence and virtue, to educate the whole person. Political theorist: history and observation, to hold power. Reformer-scholar: philology applied to the Bible, to purify faith.
In practice
Five cases. A treatise reconciling Aristotle with the Trinity by disputation: scholastic. A letter in Ciceronian Latin praising the well-rounded citizen: humanist. A handbook advising a ruler to be feared rather than loved: political theorist, Machiavelli. A corrected Greek New Testament with a preface urging plowboys to read it: reformer-scholar, Erasmus. A catalogue of virtuous women arguing that education, not nature, makes the difference: humanist, Christine de Pizan.
Where people slip
Erasmus was humanist and reformer-scholar at once, and Machiavelli had a humanist education. Classify by the authority the passage leans on, and expect the exam to test humanist against scholastic most.
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