1. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
PHILOSOPHY
Prepared by:
Erwin s. Ted
http://www.antlers.k12.ok.us/AHS%2007_08/Pam%20D%20History
%20Notes/ch15/ch15_sec1.ppt
BSE 302 English

2. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
The Renaissance
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Roughly from 1400 to 1600
Means “rebirth”
Things began to get better
The economy improved
There was a return to buildings, cathedrals,
universities, cities
• New view of mankind

3. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
New View of Mankind
Renaissance Humanism
• After the long Dark Ages in which every aspect of life was
seen through divine light, everything once again revolved
around man.
• “Go to the source” is the motto.
• Reading humanistic subjects provided a “classical education”
and developed what may be called human qualities.
• “Horses are born, but human beings are not – they are
formed.”
• “We have to be educated to be human!”

4. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
Renaissance Cultural Background
The three discoveries that were essential preconditions
for this new period are:
• The compass – made it easier to navigate.
• The firearms – gave the European military the superiority over
American and Asiatic cultures.
• The printing press – played an important part in spreading the
Renaissance humanists new ideas.
New inventions and instruments began to follow thick and
fast. One important instrument for example was the telescope,
which resulted in a completely new basis for astronomy.

5. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
New Ideas
Humanism
An outlook or system of thought attaching
prime importance to human rather than divine or
supernatural matters.
•New view of mankind
•Humanists brought new belief in man and his worth.
•Man was now considered infinitely great and
valuable.

6. Section 1
Renaissance and Reformation
Central Figures
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Marcilio Ficino
one of the greatest figures of the
Italian Renaissance, was born in
Florence, on October 19, 1433.
He died in October of 1499. He
was a priest, a doctor and
musician, but is best known for
his work as a translator of classic
works, author and philosopher.
Exclaimed “Know thyself, O
divine lineage in mortal guise!”
Acknowledged the thought that
man has God-like capacities.

7. Section 1
Renaissance and Reformation
Central Figures
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Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
He wrote the famous
Oration on the Dignity of Man,
which has been called the
"Manifesto of the
Renaissance", and a key text
of Renaissance Humanism

8. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
New Ideas
Individualism
We are not only human beings, we are unique
individuals. Man did not exist purely for God’s sake
•This idea could lead to an almost unrestrained worship of
genius.
•The ideal became what we call the Renaissance man, a
man of universal genius embracing all aspects of life, art, and
science.
•The new view of man also manifested itself in an interest into
human anatomy.

9. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
New Ideas
Empiricism
Every investigation of natural
phenomena must be based on
observation, experiences, and
experiments.

10. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
New View of Mankind
• Undeniably, the new view of mankind led to a whole new
outlook.
• Man did not exist purely for God’s sake.
• Man could therefore delight in life here and now.
• And with these new freedom to develop, the possibilities
were limitless.
• They behaved as if the whole world was reawakened.
• The renaissance humanists saw it as their duty to restore
Rome.

11. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
New View of Nature
Pantheism
God is present in his creation. If God is infinite, then He
must be present in everything. Nature is divine.
•Nature was now regarded as a positive thing
•Many held that God was also present in his creation.

12. Section 1
Renaissance and Reformation
New View of Nature
• Giordano Bruno
• Not only that he claim
that God was present in
nature, he also believed
that the universe was
infinite in scope.
• He was punished for
this idea.

13. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
New World View
Geocentric World View
The belief that everything revolves
around the Earth.
Heliocentric World Picture
The belief that everything revolves
around the sun.

14. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
New World View
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Nicolaus Copernicus
Polish astronomer who wrote the book
entitled On the Revolutions of the Celestial
Spheres in 1543.
Claimed that the earth rotated around the
sun.
Pointed out that all observations of
heavenly bodies were easier to understand
if one assumed that both the earth and the
other planets circled around the sun (the
Heliocentric world picture).

15. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
New World View
•Johannes Kepler
•German Astronomer who
presented the results of the
comprehensive observations which
showed that the planets moved in
elliptical (oval) orbits.
•The speed of a planet is greatest
when closest to the sun (vice
versa)
•Same physical laws apply
everywhere throughout the
universe.

16. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
New World View
•Galileo Galilei
•Used a telescope to observe
the heavenly bodies.
•Studied the moon’s crater
and said that it is similar to
the earth
•Discovered Jupiter had four
moons
•Law of inertia

17. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
New World View
•Isaac Newton
•An English Physicist who lived
from 1642 to 1727
•Law of universal gravitation –
every object attracts every other
object with a force that increases in
proportion to the size of the objects
and decreases in proportion to the
distance between the objects
•Gravitation is universal
•One set of laws

18. Renaissance and Reformation
MODERN
PHILOSOPHY
Section 1

19. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
Baroque (17 Century)
th
• The word “baroque” comes from a word that was
first used to describe a pearl of irregular shape.
• The 17th Century was on the whole characterized
by tensions between irreconcilable contrasts.
• “carpe diem” – “seize the day
• “memento mori” – remember that you must die.
• Idealism vs. Materialism

20. Renaissance and Reformation
Baroque Art
Section 1
• Irregularity was typical of Baroque Art,
which was much richer in highly
contrastive forms than the plainer and
more harmonious Renaissance Art.
• In art, a painting could depict an
extremely luxurious life with a little skull
painted in one corner.

21. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
Baroque Conflicts
•Age of Conflicts
•Thirty Years War (1618-1648)
Baroque Art
•Protestant and Catholics
•Political conflicts
•The politics situation was typified by
intrigue, plotting and assassination

22. Renaissance and Reformation
Gustav III
Section 1
• Swedish King
• Assassinated in 1972
• During his time, there had been a rule
Baroque Art
of “enlightened despotism”
• He is also a vain person who adored
all French ceremony and courtesies.
• He also loved the theatre and that
was the death of him.

23. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
Life As A Theater…
•The Baroque Period gave birth to modern
theatre – with all its form and scenery.
•In the theatre, one built up an illusion on
stage – to expose ultimately that the stage
was just an illusion.
•The theatre thus became a reflection of life
in general.
•The theatre could show that “pride comes
before a fall” and a present merciless
portrait of human frailty.

24. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
William Shakespeare
• His works is full of passages about life as a
theatre.
•In As You Like It, he says:
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely prayers
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.”
•In Macbeth, he says:
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more;
It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
•In Hamlet, he says:
“To be or not to be – that is the question.”

25. Renaissance and Reformation
Section 1
Baroque Philosophy
•Baroque’s philosophy was characterized by
powerful struggles between diametrically opposed
modes of thought.
•Some philosophers believed that what exists is at
bottom spiritual in nature this standpoint was
called idealism.
•The opposite viewpoint is called materialism, a
philosophy which holds that all real things derive
from concrete materials substances.

26. Renaissance and Reformation
17
Century
Philosophers
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Section 1

27. Rene Descartes
(1596-16500)
•Descartes is often called the father of modern
philosophy.
•He is also known for espousing a dualism
•Descartes made many important contributions
to the field of mathematics but is perhaps most
famous for his saying "Cogito ergo sum" (Latin
for "I think, therefore I am").
• Basically, he wanted to know whether or not
there was anything in this world that we could
really know for sure. He started by doubting
everything, even his own existence. However,
he came to the conclusion that if he was
thinking about the question, "Do I exist?" then
he must exist, otherwise there wouldn't be an
"I" to ask the question.

28. Baruch Spinoza
(1632-1677)
• Spinoza rejected the mind-body
dualism of Descartes and is often
considered to have held a more
pantheistic worldview, arguing that all
things are ultimately one.
• He believed in an impersonal God and
took a critical approach to the Bible and
this led to his writings being strongly
condemned by religious leaders.

29. John Locke
( 1632-1704)
• EMPIRICISM - counters
rationalism
• Knowledge is derived
from the senses
• References Aristotle
• Blank slate - Tabula
rasa

30. David Hume
(1711-1776)
• Begins with everyday experiences
• Man reasons by impressions
(immediate) and ideas
(recollections)
• Faith vs. Reason
• Agnostic
• Said you cannot prove faith by
human reason
• What is a miracle?
• White crow - We have not
experienced ALL natural laws

31. George Berkeley
(1685-1753)
•Irish Bishop
•Denied a material world outside of
human consciousness - all is spiritual
•We exist in the mind of God who
causes everything to occur
•Questions material reality, time &
space
•Can we prove that the material
world exists?

32. Immanuel Kant
(1724-1804)
•Kant is often considered to be
the most important modern
philosopher.
•This is because he built a bridge
between rationalism and empiricism.
•Therefore there is a difference
between how things really are (the
thing in itself) and how things are
experienced by us (the thing for me).
•We begin with sense perception, but
our mind plays a major role in its
ordering