ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book investigates the languages of Renaissance Europe on precisely these terms: for what their histories reveal of the cultural and social processes that shape them and are, in turn, shaped by them. Philologists used their knowledge of ancient and modern languages and their contexts to date, attribute, edit, translate, and comment on particular texts; philosophers, tackled complex conceptual problems raised by texts in an attempt to elucidate general truths. The contrast was sometimes used to the detriment of the philologists, seen as mere solvers of word puzzles, while the philosophers claimed to be pursuing the greater goal of true wisdom. The eloquent expression of preoccupations was also important to the philologists and distinguished them as humanists. But the interactions between Renaissance philologists and philosophers, while often partisan and bitter were ultimately to the benefit of both.
