- •Philosophy
- •Renaissance is a rather complicated phenomenon of Western culture of the middle XIV
- •The western Renaissance generally divided into three periods:
- •Many of the ideas of the Renaissance originated much earlier than the beginning
- •But at the same time in Italy, originated some ideas, which were opposed
- •Main cause of the Renaissance was considered economic cause, as this was a
- •Economically free people required to justify their activities through a new outlook, other
- •A role in appearance the Renaissance that particular form of Christianity plays, which
- •On the other hand, in Catholicism, philosophy has evolved more than in the
- •In this approach, God becomes not the center of the world, but the
- •First thinker of the Renaissance called Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) while he lived in
- •Dante didn’t set terrestrial nature in opposition to the divine world, vice versa,
- •Actually as the first
- ••Human life is given only once and it’s unique;
- ••Probably afterlife doesn’t exist, and immortality can be achieved only in people’s memories;
- •Renaissance humanism is not protect human rights, but it is studies of man
- •Middle Ages for humanists represented as a “kingdom of darkness” that followed the
- •Into an art form humanists also sought to find something new, refusing from
- •The most significant after the philosopher-humanist Petrarca can be called
- •Florentine Platonic
- •George Gemistus Plethon (1355–1452) – an orthodox priest from Constantinople.
- •Marsilio Ficino (1433- 1499) – successor of Plethon. He translated the works of
- •The world is ordered. The hierarchy of the world has, according to Ficino,
- •Pico della Mirandola
- •Man is the fourth world, he is absolutely free and can therefore put
- •Younger contemporary (современник) of humanists was Nicholas of Cusa
- •He is trying to return to the spirit of the early church fathers
- •However, at that era there were also pragmatic approaches to philosophy. Such pragmatist
- •States appear and disappear according to the laws of fortune.
- •Christianity too believes in the afterlife and does not appreciate reality.
- •Philosophy of
- •Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (1469- 1536) (Holland)
- •He opposed super’stitions (суеверие), pseudoscience, scholastic philosophy and theology.
- •Martin Luther (1483-1546) “Faith alone justifies man”
- •Man has no free will, all his actions are predetermined over.
- •The most significant philosopher of the Renaissance in France is
- •Montaigne calls to renounce (отказаться) all authorities and schools, because they can not
- •Nicolaus Copernicus
- •Giordano Bruno (1548 – was made a bonfire of, 1600)
- •God and the world are identical essences.
Philosophy
of the Renaissance
Renaissance is a rather complicated phenomenon of Western culture of the middle XIV and the beginning of the XVII century.
The western Renaissance generally divided into three periods:
•1st period (humanistic or anthropocentric): Mid of XIV-Mid of XV.
•2nd period (Neoplatonic): Mid of XV-Beg of XVI.
•3rd period (natural-philosophical): the end of XVI-Beg of XVII.
Many of the ideas of the Renaissance originated much earlier than the beginning of this epoch, when there were disputes in the medieval universities, where the main ideas were the ideas of Thomas Aquinas.
But at the same time in Italy, originated some ideas, which were opposed to prevailed scholastic outlook of that time.
Main cause of the Renaissance was considered economic cause, as this was a time of rapid development of handicrafts, the emergence and strengthening of cities (Renaissance begins in Italy, where there are cities, like Rome, Naples, Venice, Florence).
Economically free people required to justify their activities through a new outlook, other than scholastic edifices or ascetic Catholic priests, monks, and the early Fathers of the Church gave.
A role in appearance the Renaissance that particular form of Christianity plays, which existed in Western Europe. First, the war of priests for the papacy was the cause of origin of doubt in authority of the Catholic Church.
On the other hand, in Catholicism, philosophy has evolved more than in the Byzantine Orthodoxy. Therefore, the outlook of Western Catholic man was more rational, directed to the ontological and epistemological issues.
In this approach, God becomes not the center of the world, but the object of purely theoretical knowledge, allowing all kinds of doubts. Thus scholastic philosophy prepared such a phenomenon that we call the Renaissance.