renaissance presentation

15th to 17th Centuries

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Victor Hugo


Rome and Greece as the purest and most philosophical eras



Growing interest in pre-Greek civilization Hermetism Mysticism, spiritualism




Scholarly movements: Revival of Platonism Renewed Aristotelianism (response) Christian syncretism Anti-intellectualism




Scholarly movements: Revival of Platonism Renewed Aristotelianism (response) Christian syncretism Anti-intellectualism

The university/educationSunday, September 23, 2012

What Renaissance Humanism was NOT: Move away from the Church Humaneness (Machiavelli)



Intense interest in human beings Dignity of man (DaVinci, Michelangelo) Individualism Humanism (Erasmus, Montaigne, Thomas More)




Skepticism (Montaigne, Bacon) Towards intellectualism (Petrarch vs. philosophy) Towards authority (Copernicus)




Skepticism (Montaigne, Bacon) Towards intellectualism (Petrarch vs. philosophy) Towards authority (Copernicus)

Optimism The idea of progress (Giovanni Pico)


Man is born for a life of civility and cultivation, bordering on the divine



Architecture as philosophical vision



Architecture as philosophical vision The city as teacher and as moral agent

(Somewhat like the medieval city as fortress and protector)



Architecture as philosophical vision The city as teacher and as moral agent

(Somewhat like the medieval city as fortress and protector)

Everything good and known is in the city: Knowledge Art Wealth Talent


Gothic cathedral

Ambiguous & ethereal character of a Platonic idea

Free, “barbaric” imperfections

Innocence

Christian system (workman ≠ slaves)


Renaissance basilica Orderly

reasonableness of Aristotle’s categories

Disciplined, line-and-angle proportions

Vanity & pretense

Slave based systems


2 Factors accelerated the spread of the Renaissance:1.Economic Prosperity2.The Printing Press

Johannes Gutenberg 1452: began his famous

Bible project 1455: completed 200

copies Stimulated the literacy of

lay people


1. Mechanical clock

2. Eyeglasses

3. Microscope

4. Telescope

5. Flushing toilet

6. The match

7. Submarine


Reason (again) Giovanni Pico

“If sensitive, he (man) will become brutish. If rational, he will grow into a heavenly being. If intellectual, he will be an angel and the son of God… Who would not admire this, our chameleon?”


Reason (again) Giovanni Pico

“If sensitive, he (man) will become brutish. If rational, he will grow into a heavenly being. If intellectual, he will be an angel and the son of God… Who would not admire this, our chameleon?”

Skepticism towards intellectualism Petrarch

“He (Aristotle) knew absolutely nothing of true happiness that any pious old woman, any faithful fisherman, shepherd or peasant is… happier in recognizing it. He saw happiness as much as the night owl does the sun.”

”It is one thing to know, another to love…”


Hermeticism (< the Hermes myth) The individual can command the supernatural forces

and share in the Cosmic spirit Man is an agent of change, a rational-spiritual force

capable of changing the course of nature Ficino:

“It is also obvious that he (man) is the god of the elements, for he inhabits and cultivates all of them. Finally, he is the god of all materials, for he handles, changes, and shapes all of them. He who governs the body in so many and so important ways, and is the vicar of the immortal God, he is no doubt immortal.”


The Restoration: A different view of Christianity

Luther: Attack on Church corruption Critical of reason/philosophy Denied free will

Savonarola: “burning of the vanities” (symbols of overly dignified man)

Erasmus: the voice of reason, a noble humanist

Calvin: echoes of the simple, righteous and sparse life advocated by the Pythagoreans


The witch trials Malleus maleficarum

Is the will free or can Satan claim it for himself?

Possession vs. heresy


Literature // Art: intense focus on

man, his emotions, his psyche

Return of the tragedy

Shakespeare’s multiple psychological types and rich human analyses

“Anatomy of melancholy” by Robert Burton (1621)


renaissance presentation

Education

renaissance humanism

cosmic spirit man

skepticism montaigne

life of civility

intellectualism petrarch

medieval city

divine architecture

moral agent