Philip Hensher

The attraction of freethinking humanism

From Erasmus to David Hume, the humanists of the past appear consistently kinder, more decent and generous than their contemporaries

Detail of a fresco by Cosimo Rosselli showing the Italian humanists Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola and Agnolo Poliziano (Sant’Ambrogio, Florence). [Bridgeman Images]

  • Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Thinking, Enquiry and Hope

    Sarah Bakewell

    Chatto & Windus, pp. 464, £22

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