Shifts in Values from Renaissance to Modern Age - Research Paper Example

? Shifts in Values from Renaissance to Modern Age Shifts in Values from Renaissance to Modern Age Many people argue that the Modern times and the Renaissance share a lot of things in common. Conversely, the Renaissance was widely dissimilar in comparison to the Modern era. In view of the early exploration voyages and modern exploration, there were huge differences in the motives, missions, and the hunt of answers to queries of the two eras. There were also a number of differences in other areas of life, culture, thought and the way of living. This text explores such differences and similarities between these two ages. In terms of philosophy, it is evident that certain cultural values have changed from the Renaissance to today. Perhaps, it is of uttermost importance to start the text by defining the most crucial terminologies involved. Most historians would describe the Renaissance as a cultural rebirth that commenced in Florence, Italy, before dispersal to the other parts of Europe from approximately 1300 to 1600. During this time, “Europeans underwent a transformed interest in Roman and classical Greek civilization, and consequently, in learning mathematics, science, philosophy, science, and the arts” (Adams, 2005, p. 87). Christianity took a center stage during the renaissance and its influence can be felt in the dawn of modern science. Men during the renaissance were expected to be outstandingly well-rounded and learned in various subjects. The Renaissance brought about the end of the middle Ages and embraced for the first time the ideals of the modern world. For this reason, it is seen as a changeover era between the middle ages and modern times. As Adams (2005) asserts, “no single ideology or philosophy dictated the intellectual life of the Renaissance period” (p. 143). Humanists during the early days had stressed a supple approach to the issues of society and the fast life in service of all human beings. Renaissance philosophers, during the second part of the 15th century including Marsilio FICINO in Florence, embraced metaphysical speculation. Nonetheless, Plato never replaced Aristotle as the leading philosopher in many universities. However, there was an effort aimed towards philosophical syncretism, to combine conflicting theories and philosophies, and establish common ground for accord with regards to the truth just like Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola. Renaissance science comprised largely of the study of physics, medicine, and mathematics, depending on old masters, such as Aristotle, Euclid, and Galen. Experimental science in alchemy and anatomy led to the invention within and outside university surroundings. It is this invention of the university environment that ushered in the modern times. Many of the philosophical though today happens in the confines of universities and institutions of higher learning. Philosophy has taken the form of a discipline. However, the Renaissance had a darker side. Despite interest in philosophical ideas, violent and pestilent death was frequent, and warfare was widespread. There was lots of interest in things that embraced the occult, astrology, and magic. It is during this time that the formally authorized persecution for witchcraft commenced. A number of intellectuals felt a deep cynicism about the corruptions and evils of society as evident in the frequently savage humanist opposers of Desiderius Erasmus and Giovanni Francesco Poggio Bracciolini. Nicolo Machiavelli, one of the supreme Renaissance thinkers came up with a realistic science about human nature with regards to reforming the Italian society and the making of a civil life that is immensely secure. Cassirer & Domandi (2010) state that, “Machiavelli’s republican ideals influenced by a realistic viewpoint of politics and the inevitability of vibrant change were the most innovative contribution of the Renaissance towards the modern world” ( p. 75). Undoubtedly, the Renaissance Era was influential in that it lived on in instituted standards of literature and taste and an idiosyncratic Renaissance style in architecture, music, and art. It also presented the model of multifaceted accomplishment of the ‘Universal man’, as exemplified by Leon Battista Alberti and Leonardo da Vinci. The Renaissance also initiated the enormous creative vernacular literature synonymous with the late 16th century. Some of the literature included the earthly essays of Montaigne, the worldly fantasies of Rabelais, and the plays of William Shakespeare. Cassirer & Domandi (2010) asserts that, “most of these pieces of literature are still significant to date” (p. 453). As stated above, most scholars use the description Renaissance philosophy to mean the thought and ideals that run in Europe approximately between 1350 and 1650. Noble figures that influenced ideas during the Renaissance include William of Ockham, Thomas Aquinas, Albert the Great, Marsilius of Padua. The sources, structure, topics, and method of philosophy during the Renaissance had many things in common with those during the earlier centuries. “During middle Ages, method of philosophy was seen as a subject that needed vigorous enquiry on the part of individuals trained in technical vocabulary” (Marks & Marks, 2007, p. 354). Philosophical issues and texts were naturally approached via university questions and lectures. The questions were similar to modern debates, which looked into the pros and cons of meticulous philosophical interpretations and positions. The questions also needed a profound familiarity with the philosophical tradition. Such philosophical style stretched into the Renaissance. There were many philosophical topics during this time. It was feasible to discuss any issue during the medieval and Renaissance with regards to philosophy. Aristotle dealt with direct issues including animal habits, trajectory of missiles, knowledge acquisition, the freedom of will, the link between virtue and happiness, the connection between the lunar and the sublunar worlds. Circuitously, Aristotle had raised discussion on two issues that concerned the Christians: the eternity of the world and the soul’s immortality. Such topics continued to of significant interest to most Renaissance thinkers and scholars. Moreover, during the entire Renaissance period, philosophy begun to have a more modern approach, compared to what was going on during the Medieval and Greek times. It is still identifiable to date. At the time, philosophers understood that they were on a novel journey that departed fundamentally from medieval ideals. Consequently, they began to call their style of philosophizing as modern, which led to the emergence of the term modern philosophy. They commenced by breathing new life back into the ancient Greek philosophical schools. Evidently, the novel and dramatic innovations in science contributed to the launch of Renaissance philosophy. Bacon, for instance, believed that science and philosophy were practically inseparable with regards to the scientific method. As Marks & Marks (2007) state, “philosophers of the modern times also drew a lot from the science of the Renaissance; they had knowledge that touched on the latest scientific innovations” (p. 86). Besides Aristotle’s writing about logic, there were many other writings that tackled natural philosophy, metaphysics, and moral philosophy. Such areas availed the structure for the philosophy prospectus of the budding universities. It was presumed that the mainly scientific philosophy branches included those that were somehow theoretical thus more applicable. Of course, a great significance with what happened during the Renaissance is that it links with the latter character of modern philosophy with what can be termed as the birth of modern science. A number of modern philosophers have often viewed their work as something more that the handmaiden of science. Evidently, the shadow casted by science is hard to ignore with regards to its influence and success on modern history and life. For some time now, philosophers like Karl Marx, David Hume, and Edmund Husserl have discovered the value of their work in the notion that they were making philosophy become more of a science. Before, 1840, what people now refer to as science was termed “natural philosophy” (Marks & Marks, 2007, p. 32). It is essential to note that, modern philosophy started in Western Europe during mid 17th century before spreading to other parts of the world. The ingredients, ideologies and the period that go into the Renaissance are very critical for making the modern world in terms of technology. According to Adams (2005), “numerous inventions with regards to technology can be traced back to the renaissance” (p. 75). The new lease of life given to philosophy during the Renaissance ensured that philosophical views were transformed and used later. Notably, the Renaissance witnessed a transition of philosophical thought between the middle Ages and modern thought. Here, the revival of classical texts fueled the shift of philosophical interest from technical studies in metaphysics, theology and logic towards assorted inquiries into philology, morality, and mysticism. During this time, the review of humane arts and classical studies such as literature and history received a scholarly interest hitherto unfamiliar in Christendom. This tendency is referred to as humanism. The humanists displaced medieval interest in logic and metaphysics thus making man together with his virtues the focus of philosophy. In addition, the humanists exhibited a huge confidence in the power of reason as a basis of thoughtful understanding with regards to human nature and man’s place in the natural order. For people like Francisco Suarez and Giordano Bruno, humanism availed an opportunity to add modern developments together with classical elements in totally novel organisms of metaphysical knowledge. The increase of the modern science also availed a momentous change in the panorama for human knowledge with regards to the natural world. Evidently, “the Renaissance promoted desertion of the benefits of scholastic learning; however, it could only avail the guarantee that novel ways of thinking might replace them one day” (Hankins, 2007, p. 443). Humanist thinkers indicted the tradition of classical skepticism as a novel element that synonymous with modern philosophy. The pyrrhonists turned the power of reasoning against itself at any given time. Michel de Montaigne is one of the greatest embodiments of modern Pyrrhonism. In essence, the Renaissance renewed interest in anti-Aristotelian theories with regards to nature seen as an organic living. This was comprehensible in the works of Nicholas Copernicus, Nicholas of Cusa, Telesius, Giordano Bruno, and Tommaso Campanella. These movements in natural philosophy merged with a renewal of interest in magic, occultism, astrology, hermeticism, which were thought to acquiesce concealed ways of comprehending and mastering nature. These modern movements in the sphere of philosophy grew contemporaneously with larger political and religious transformation in Europe: the Reformation and the demise of feudalism. However, Modern philosophy is somehow distinct from its antecedents by its escalating independence from conventional authorities such as Aristotelianism, academia and the church. It is also distinguished by the novel spotlight on the foundation of metaphysical and knowledge system-building as well as the materialization of modern physics from natural philosophy. Other central topics within this period include the mind nature as well as its connection to the body, the materialization of a secular basis for political and moral philosophy. Later modern philosophy is often viewed after Immanuel Kant’s philosophy at the start of the 19th century. Specifically, German philosophy ensured vast influence during this century thanks to the supremacy of the German university system. According to Hankins (2007), “German idealists like Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Johann Gottlieb Fichte transformed Kant’s work by stating that the world is made up by a mind-like or rational process, thus totally knowable” (p. 77). Philosophy during the 19th century hugely turned against idealism and favored different forms of philosophical naturalism including Auguste Comte’s positivism, John Stuart Mill’s empiricism, and Karl Marx’s materialism. Philosophy within the last century has become more of a professional discipline within universities just like many other disciplines. It has become more specialized than before. Modern age also ushered in the change of views from Ontological to Epistemological Priority, commonly referred to as epistemological turn. Some philosophers during the 20th century started to view that they go a step higher than this. Much of the new academic philosophy also embraced this new trend. Fueled by Ludwig Wittgenstein, Logical Positivism embraced the idea that “the nature of language establishes the nature of knowledge” (Cassirer & Domandi, 2010). Generally, it rules out the continuation of metaphysics at any given point. To conclude, it is evident that certain cultural values have changed from the Renaissance to today. Despite the argument that the Modern times and the Renaissance share a lot of things in common the Renaissance was widely dissimilar in comparison to the Modern era. Yet, a number of philosophical thought during today trace their origin from the Renaissance period. The Renaissance saw a new way of thinking in terms of philosophy and human thought. In essence, it renewed interest in anti-Aristotelian theories with regards to nature seen as an organic living. Also, philosophy begun to have a more modern approach as compared to what was happening during the Medieval and Greek times. As discussed above, it is still identifiable to date. Philosophers understood that they were on a new and fresh journey that departed fundamentally from medieval ideals. As a result, they began to call their style of philosophizing as modern, thus the emergence of the term modern philosophy. References Adams, G. P. (2005). Idealism and the Modern Age. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing. Cassirer, E., & Domandi, M. (2010). The Individual and the Cosmos in Renaissance Philosophy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Hankins, J. (2007). The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Marks, R., & Marks, R. B. (2007). The Origins of the Modern World: Fate and Fortune in the Rise of the West. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. Read More