“Generation of Autodidacts”: Italian Humanists of the First Half of the XVth Century in Search of Their Identity

Cases of autodidactism, though sporadically, have been occurring during the whole course of history. They could be considered as a specific feature of Italian Renaissance culture and since that time became a part of real life. The spread of autodidactism in the XVth century was caused by a wide range of social, economic, and cultural processes. Italian humanisis of the second generation declared themselves as autodidacts either in direct or in indirect ways, but the correctness of such declarations is rather discussable (the same tendency applies also to artists). In fact, each of them had his own teacher (maestro) who taught Latin; many studied in universities, their predecessors, i.e. humanists of the first generation, were not very distant in time. The declarations of autodidactism were grounded on the change of the education pattern and introduction of a new and actual one which humanists promoted. They rejected dialectic as a method of cognition and argumentation and placed eloquence exactly as humanists saw it in the center of new knowledge and education. Perhaps they really needed someone who could perform a role of preceptor (precettore), but, bearing in mind theatricality as a known feature of humanists’ activity, it looks possible to presume that humanists’ autodidactism was rather a kind of self-presentation then self-identification. It was status of autodidacts that let humanists to make their fame wider and allowed them to position themselves as discoverers and pioneers, do not notice own amateurism, do not pay tribute to older colleges and pretend they would not like to be acclaimed as a “well-educated persons”. One’s desire to be perceived as an autodidact could be considered as a marker of the person’ idea of his or her own exclusiveness, a position among others, that is higher than average, and pretension to impress others, to be treated in a right way. All these point to one’s, in particular humanists’ indirect attempts to state their own personality. In addition, autodidactism was the means to strengthen and consolidate humanists’ group, which initially was a really miscellaneous one.