Abstract

Man or Monster? (Self-)Perfection as a Balancing Act between Wisdom and Folly

In Erasmus of Rotterdam’s Praise of Folly, written in the early 16th century, the pursuit of perfection and wisdom is paradoxically judged to be inhuman and foolish. Despite the text’s influence on Spanish literature of the Golden Age, there is no counterpart to this view. Instead, a strong distinction is made between false self-perfection, which seeks worldly success and is vain, and desirable self-perfection, which is equated with virtue, accordingly labelling those who follow the false goals as fools or even monsters and expelling them from the community. All the more remarkable is a text from the 20th century which, despite the great distance in time, can be read in certain respects as a counter-draft: In Sanatorio de optimismo, reason must be put in chains to heal people. The dream of a better humanity is not to be achieved with wisdom, but with good humour, laughter, and imagination.