Erasmus Folly

Gard · Post by **Gard** » 11 Apr 2008, 08:00

Erasmus Folly - has your name got anythin to do with Desiderius Erasmus:The Praise of Folly;
http://www.btinternet.com/~glynhughes/s ... rasmus.htm

If so was there any reason for it? Just wondering really!

Erasmus_Folly · Post by **Erasmus_Folly** » 12 Apr 2008, 08:38

Yes, most definitely. He is a figure from history that I greatly admire and his essays, The Praise of Folly, are of value to all who love truth and wisdom. He was one of the first of the rational humanists and was far ahead of his times. He was a great friend of Thomas More who wrote Utopia, which should be read as an anidote to 1984, Brave New World and all the other dystopian novels.

Erasmus by Hans Holbein the Younger

Thomas More by Hans Holbein the Younger

Tracey Neal · Post by **Tracey Neal** » 12 Apr 2008, 10:30

Erasmus_Folly wrote: He was a great friend of Thomas More who wrote Utopia

Thomas More by Hans Holbein the Younger

Erasmus, I literally carry a copy of Utopia in my handbag, it stays there. I greatly admire Thomas More, but yeah, very good stuff.

Erasmus_Folly · Post by **Erasmus_Folly** » 12 Apr 2008, 11:10

Star wrote:I literally carry a copy of Utopia in my handbag, it stays there. I greatly admire Thomas More, but yeah, very good stuff.

I am glad to hear it. The dystopian novels are fun to read and they carry important warnings about the dangers to our society, culture and politics by being too complacent, cynical and apathetic in our daily lives.

Thomas More wrote in a time when the hazards to the daily lives of the citizens of England were much greater than any we face today - poverty, malnutrion and a justice system that could mete out the death penalty for over 600 offenses!

And yet he could imagine and believed in a society in which the average human being was fundamently good, as your signature quote by Anne Frank reminds us.

Let those cynics who want to call Thomas More naive do so, but in the end he gave his live for his beliefs. How many of those very same cynics would be willing to do the same?

Gard · Post by **Gard** » 12 Apr 2008, 12:27

Thanks, well that clears that up

Hamlet · Post by **Hamlet** » 12 Apr 2008, 22:32

Erasmus_Folly wrote:
Star wrote:I literally carry a copy of Utopia in my handbag, it stays there. I greatly admire Thomas More, but yeah, very good stuff.
I am glad to hear it. The dystopian novels are fun to read and they carry important warnings about the dangers to our society, culture and politics by being too complacent, cynical and apathetic in our daily lives.

Thomas More wrote in a time when the hazards to the daily lives of the citizens of England were much greater than any we face today - poverty, malnutrion and a justice system that could mete out the death penalty for over 600 offenses!

And yet he could imagine and believed in a society in which the average human being was fundamently good, as your signature quote by Anne Frank reminds us.

Let those cynics who want to call Thomas More naive do so, but in the end he gave his live for his beliefs. How many of those very same cynics would be willing to do the same?

well said, probably none, More was anything but naive. Anne Frank is one whose life's story can bring me to complete tears.