Jakob Thomasius’ speech De felicitate literatorum

Abstract

Jakob Thomasius, well known scholar and good friend of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, wrote a speech De felicitate literatorum. The point is not to deploy the complex substrate of philosophical opinions about happiness. Clearly Thomasius attempts to amplify the arguments and anticipatory refutations with several classical quotations and examples of ancient biographies. Nevertheless, this  speech is not merely a study of casuistry, but a deliberative process that might serve well as the basis for making a prudential judgement, the goal of the rhetoric-centered education at the heart of the Humanists’ program.