Refuge from Anguish : Profugiorum ab ærumna

Abstract

Leon Battista Alberti, an author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and polymath, wrote "Profugiorum ab ærumna libri III" in the first half of the 1440s. Alberti's dialogue engages with historical and philosophical influences from antiquity, Christianity, and the Middle Ages while emphasizing the significance of sensory perception and the sensual experience of the world. "Profugiorum ab ærumna" offers insight into 15th-century Florentine humanism and presents an early modern interpretation of self-cultivation and care. Alberti develops an ironic idea of therapy that challenges the Stoic belief in finding a definitive cure for the difficulties and uncertainty of cultural and social life, and a resulting anguish. Instead, he proposes techniques and practices, including exercises in architecture and rationality, to ward off anguish and listlessness, while recognizing that disquiet, as a sign of the Other, can only ever be temporarily overcome.