a column by Michel Serafinelli and Guido Tabellini for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
Innovation is often concentrated in certain geographic areas, or ‘creative clusters’. This column uses novel data on famous births to explore the dynamics of creativity in European cities between the 11th and 19th centuries. The results show that creativity tends to precede economic prosperity, and that city institutions that protect personal and economic freedoms are conducive to radical innovation in a variety of domains.
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Showing posts with label renaissance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label renaissance. Show all posts
Saturday, 10 February 2018
Friday, 22 March 2013
Renaissance treatises on ‘successful ageing’
an article by Chris Gilleard (Unit of Mental Health Sciences, University College London, UK) published in Ageing and Society Volume 33 Issue 2 (February 2013)
Abstract
Numerous treatises on ‘successful ageing’ were published during the late Renaissance. Zerbi’s Gerontocomia and Cornaro’s Trattato della Vita Sobria, in particular, have been considered as early precursors of modern gerontology.
In this paper I revisit these two treatises, outline their content and common themes, and set them in the context of other literature written about ageing in this period.
The rise of civic humanism, increased access to classical texts on health and hygiene, and the emergence of environmental and public health concerns, particularly in the Italian city states, are some of the factors that influenced this writing.
The powerful yet insecure position of older men in the upper ranks of Italian society gave the topic of ‘seniority’ added relevance. While their roots in the scholastic tradition prevent them from serving as forerunners of scientific gerontology, their humanist concern with ‘lifestyle’ succeeds in making them the prototypes of the ‘do-it-yourself’ manuals for successful ageing that now proliferate in our late modernity.
Abstract
Numerous treatises on ‘successful ageing’ were published during the late Renaissance. Zerbi’s Gerontocomia and Cornaro’s Trattato della Vita Sobria, in particular, have been considered as early precursors of modern gerontology.
In this paper I revisit these two treatises, outline their content and common themes, and set them in the context of other literature written about ageing in this period.
The rise of civic humanism, increased access to classical texts on health and hygiene, and the emergence of environmental and public health concerns, particularly in the Italian city states, are some of the factors that influenced this writing.
The powerful yet insecure position of older men in the upper ranks of Italian society gave the topic of ‘seniority’ added relevance. While their roots in the scholastic tradition prevent them from serving as forerunners of scientific gerontology, their humanist concern with ‘lifestyle’ succeeds in making them the prototypes of the ‘do-it-yourself’ manuals for successful ageing that now proliferate in our late modernity.
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