"Creixent saber, l·ignorança·s desperta" - Ausiàs Marchs "Cant CXIII" und die Grenzen des menschlichen Wissens

Abstract

Summary: The social and cultural transformations that occur in occidental Europe in the later Middle Ages have an impact on the diversification and diffusion of knowledge. Through the increasing number of scientific texts in vernacular language, knowledge formerly reserved for the clergy becomes accessible for literate laymen. The importance of this phenomenon becomes evident with authors such as Ausiàs March, who incorporate into their literary language philosophical, theological, medical or technical notions and concepts. The present paper proposes an interpretation of March’s Cant CXIII which focuses on his use of what we call the ‘discourses of knowledge’ (Wissensdiskurse). With regard to the main argument of the text – the capacity of man to understand the truth is limited, human knowledge is vain – the poet follows the ideas propagated by the church. However, at the same time, he uses these scientific discourses (above all notions and concepts of Aristotelian psychology and ethics) for his description and analysis of human behaviour. What at first glance seems to be a paradox, is, in fact, characteristic of the contemporary attempts to reconcile the new knowledge about man and cosmos with the Christian world vision. Yet, the tension between ‘human science’ and ‘divine science’ (which intensified in the following centuries) is perceptible in March’s poem. [Keywords: Catalan literature, Ausiàs March, human knowledge, psychology, moral philosophy].