First in Italy and later in northern Europe, a new model of intellectual excellence emphasized literary studies, philology, oratory, poetry and history. This studia humanitatis—or study of the ‘humanities’ as they are now known—developed partly to prepare men for work in the councils of princes and republics, the chanceries of cities and states, and in papal offices. The new class of secretaries and secular scholars wanted to know how to write well rather than how to conduct theological disputations. They wanted to be able to compose elegantly persuasive letters, not resolve logical conundrums. Such intellectual developments outside the universities influenced what went on inside them too. Anthony Gottlieb, The Dream of Reason: A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance, loc. 6914. Kindle Edition