The Praise of Folly
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
The Praise of Folly
| Full title | The Praise of Folly (Moriae Encomium) |
|---|---|
| Author | Desiderius Erasmus |
| Published | 1511 |
| Recommended | 2 times |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | Erasmus’s 1511 Latin satire, a mock oration by Folly herself praising her own indispensability — and then turning the joke on the theologians, monks and popes. The clearest single demonstration of what Christian humanism was doing before Luther: attacking clerical corruption from inside the church, and doing it as a joke rather than a thesis. |
The Praise of Folly
Where I heard about it
- University of Austin — assigned in Renaissance and Reformation on its Fall 2025 reading list (November 2025). Full curriculum: UATX Fall Reading List.
- @athenaeumbc — in a stack of ~35 old books photographed by Athenaeum Book Club (October 2026) under the line “One of the hidden benefits of reading old books is that they rescue you from the arrogance of the present.” The full stack is listed on One of the hidden benefits… (tweet).
About this edition
Dedicated to Erasmus’s friend Thomas More, whose name puns on the Greek moria, folly. Folly’s case is that nothing human gets done without her — marriage, friendship and war all require self-deception, and the most deluded are the ones most certain they are not. It became one of the most consequential texts of the Northern Renaissance even though its author never left Catholicism. English editions are translations, and their length varies with the apparatus.
Connections
- UATX Fall Reading List — the curriculum this is assigned in.
- Erasmus — the author.
- Humanism · Renaissance — the movement it belongs to.
- Rhetoric — the form is a classical mock encomium, deployed on the church.
What links here
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.