After completing the readings: To what extent and in what ways may the Renaissance be regarded as a turning point in the Western intellectual and cultural tradition?
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During the Renaissance there were many new ideas that were introduced to the time period. The idea of Humanism changed the way people thought of themselves. People started speaking out against the church and thinking of new explanations for nature and the universe. This made the Renaissance a turning point. The Renaissance affected the Western intellectual and cultural tradition because now people weren't so much focused on their religion but more on the government and the universe. In the bible it told everyone that everything in the solar system revolved around the Earth and that the Earth was the center of the universe. Astronomers like Copernicus and Galileo proved that the Earth in fact was not the center and that the sun was. After this dicovery Europeans questioned the church and its teachings.
Carter S
The Renaissance was the turning point in the western intellectual and cultural tradition. Coming out of the dark Middle Ages the Renaissance was a time of light and individualism. The Middle Ages celebrated poverty and subservience, the poor would be rewarded in the afterlife. The Renaissance gave birth and celebrated humanisim. As Leonardo Bruni put it in 1433, "The whole glory of man lies in activity". This was a time of some of the brightest minds we have known including Machiavelli, Petrarch and Dante. Artwork and Architecture were focused on humanity rather than religious symbols and God. Language became important as well as the study of letters or writing (the printing press was developed causing books to be cheaper so people could learn to read the bible themselves instead of listening to their preachers.) All of this occurred because humanity became valued and important. The “courtier” was introduced coming from gentleman or courtesy. It was the Italians who first taught manners or being polite. According to Castiglione the “courtier” is a man born in a good family but mainly the product of education and training. A good “courtier” was able to speak Latin and Italian. Virtu was also introduced which honored the men who were focused and driven and did well in their own pursuit from the arts to finance. Much of this culture drives what we value today. We celebrate individuals through the arts, finance and technology. We offer scholarships to those to increase their education and grow to help people reach their full potential. We look back to the Renaissance as a time of enlightenment, education and people which is very important in western culture today.
I agree. The Renaissance was a turning point in the western tradition because people started changing the way they lived their lives and the way that they thought. The citizens started exploring and finding out new information on their own. They started creating all different kinds of art such as paintings,statues, and sculptures. Architecture was also being built. This art and architecture though differed from the art and architecture from the medieval period. Now the art placed an emphasis on people and things that happened in everyday life and not as much religion. The people started using their minds and experimented with different situations rather than just go ask the church for help and advice. Some notable names are Machiavelli, Galileo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Nicholas Copernicus. These men all helped create a new feeling for people in Europe that the medieval period was over and it was time for a new beginning. With their discoveries and artwork people started joining them in hope to change Europe. The Renaissance was a definite turning point in the wester intellectual and cultural tradition.
The black plague was a time of depression and despair. Everybody was dying of the terrible disease. Once it stopped spreading, people decided to make a new society. Art and many new things were introduced, like new teachings and philosophies, and new discoveries. Europe went from a sad old continent to a happy advanced civilization.
I agree with Danielle on how Humanism was introduced. People started to focus less on the church. People did start speaking out against the church because they believed the church was wrong about somethings, like the geocentric and heliocentric models. Copernicus and Galileo proved it, but was killed before everybody started believed him.
During the Middle Ages everyone was focused on religion and believed everything that the church taught them such as astronomy, philosophy and many other subjects. Also art and architecture were based on religion. Once people started to believe and think differently during the Renaissance, they focused oonreality. Soon everything became about reality; art, astronomy, philosophy, and other subjects. Many people started to doubt the church, they started to ask if the church would really lead to true salvation. Before, during the Middle Ages, the main cultural tradition was all about going to church and focusing on religion, but that dramatically changed during the Renaissance when art became everything. If a man was talented in the arts he was a honorable man and would gain fame and riches but during the Middle Ages if you were a pope you would be more honored than any artisit or philosopher. Not only did traditions change, but knowledge on astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy changed. People cared more about their education than religion.
I agree with danielle m. The Renaissance was a turning point because people would stop focusing on religion. This is shown not only in education butalso in the arts. Instead of going to church, more people turned to the arts and created paintings, litertarture, and sculptures not about religion but about humans and reality. The change in both education and the arts strongly show how the renaissance is a turning point.
The renaissance was a turning point in western intellectual and cultural tradition. People began to see themselves more as individuals and less as members of groups. People also began to reject the answers supplied by the clergy and search for there own answers. People began to live more secular lifestyles and focus there attention toward worldly luxuries such as art. This new way of life is described by a quote by Leonardo Bruni "the glory of man lies in activity".
I completely agree with Lucas F. In the 1330s an outbreak of the non treatable bubonic plague occurred in China. The disease mainly affects rodents, but fleas can transmitted the disease to the citizens of China. Once people are infected, they infect others at an extremely rapid pace. The bubonic plague causes fever and a painful swelling of the lymph glands called buboes. Since China was the busiest center of trade in the world, it was only a matter of time before the outbreak of plague in China spread to western Asia and Europe.Less then 20 years later , several Italian merchant ships returned from a trip to the Black Sea. When the ships docked in Sicily, many aboard the merchant ships were already dying of the disease. It wasn't long before the disease spread to the city and the farms that surrounded it. Within days of catching the plague the victim would be dead. Over the next 5 years over 25 million people died. In a way the depression and rapid death of so many people ended up leading to a positive thing. Since there was so many labor shortages, employees were able to demand better working conditions and higher wages. In a way they needed the black plague to end the dark ages and force surviving two thirds of the population to question stop sitting around during all of the non harvesting months. People could finally start challenging the social classes and the ability to be mobile within them increased. The church that was so mighty and scared before the plague started to loose some of its creditability. How could so many peoples prayers to stop the death of millions go unanswered for so long? A new period of peasant uprising and philosophical questioning lay ahead. This would be later known as the Renaissance.
I also Agree with Nick H that the Renaissance was indeed a turning point in the western itellectual and cultural tradition because it was a time when people stopped focusing on religion and began living more secular lifestyles. For example they began creating a variety of art such as paintings, sculptures, statues, and even architecture. Now that art was a main building block of peoples lives instead of turning to the church for answers, people began to turn to famous artists and philosophers such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Galileo, Machiavelli, and Nicholas Copernicus. Those are some of the many reasons why I agree that the Renaissance was a turning point in western intellectual and cultural tradition.
During the Middle Ages people were self sufficient and only learned by the teachings of the church. This effected the architect, art and many other subjects. If it was in the bible it was true. When the Renaissance arose people came out of their shell and started to search for reasonings. Many had question the Catholic church on it teachings. Philopshers like Galieo and Copernacuis had great discoveries. They proved that the Sun was the center of the universe unlike the earth which the bible had taught. During the Renaissance secular lifestyles took place, people now thought of themselves as individuals and new ideas flourished through trade, and by mouth. This is why the Renaissance was a turning point in Western intellectual and cultural tradition
I agree with carter s. his response was one hundred percent correct. People were now focussed more on humanity and living on earth instead of being more focussed on religion and afterlife.
I agree with LucaF when he said the plague changed the way Europe lived. The plague put Europe on hold when it was around and then once it disappered, people were able to continue living their lives in a new and better way.
I agree with Carter. The Renaissance influenced change in Europe's culture, politics, religion and social ways of life. Socially, New class systems were rising, like the powerfull merchant class. Politically, nations were growing and in Northern Europe powerful monarchs were rising. Economically, trade was flourishing. Religiously,people were becoming less influenced by the Catholic church and becoming more and more secular.
All the political, social, religous and also economical changes provides reason for the Reniassance to be a turning point.
I agree with Carter, the Renaissance brought about a new way of life and thinking in a positive way. People celebrated humanism, and used their abilities to the fullest, becoming "courtiers" who were trained to do many things. They were trained to learn Latin and Greek, excell in all that they do, appreciate music and dance well, and have a certain effortlessness to everything they pursue. I agree that the Renaissance was a time of enlightenment which had an impact on today's western culture.
The Renaissance would be considered a turning point in the western intellectual and cultural traditions. It would be considered a turning point because the renaissance was a transitional period between a time of darkness and disease, to a time of enlightenment and discovery. Another turning point would be in the power of the church. During the middle ages the church was very powerful.But as the renaissance came around and people started to have to have more humanistic believes. People would focus more on self fulfillment and less on religious fulfillment. Also people did not have to worry about dieing of disease as much as they did in the middle ages so now they had time to do other things. This made people have time to experiment and invent new things
I agree with Nick H, the Renaissance was a turning point because of the change of daily life styles. Europe was just coming of the Middle Ages and the bubonic plague and with the rebirth of the Greco-roman culture brought on different aspects of art, architecture and ideas. People now where building with columns and arches. There were also many excellent thinkers during this time period which made it a turning point intellectually. Because of humanism people like Machiavelli thought out and made great philosophies. This was a turning point because it changed the shift of the church too. People began to speak out against the church because of the humanistic way of life.
While the initial question is in what ways may the Renaissance be regarded as a turning point in the Western intellectual and cultural tradition (Western meaning Western Europe, off course), the real question is whether the Renaissance was the turning point which shaped and defined the Western intellectual and cultural tradition or the Western intellectual and cultural tradition actually created the Renaissance. To put it more simply if we accept the assumption that the Renaissance was the turning point, has the renaissance then determined or shaped the western cultural or intellectual tradition or the western tradition produced and shaped the Renaissance. The Renaissance was born in Italy, still holding on to life even after the fall of the great Roman Empire. The city-state grew back from Roman law, architecture, trade with others and the culture. They finished what their dear ancestors started. The rebirth or new changes also gave a chance for new discoveries, new lands and opportunities to make riches. It was a time in which the discovery of the New World and start expand Western Territory and civilization.
Many of the things that were developed at the time of the Renaissance are still used today, such as the geocentric system created by Nickolas Copernicus or the Sistine chapel painted by Michelangelo and finished by Raphael and Sandro Botticelli, which is still something that makes everyone lose their breath when they see it. Also the untouchable Church was but under question by these idea’s of Copernicus as well as Galelio Galilee, whose telescope helped prove many important scientific theories. This slowly led to the decline of the church power and a new time was created called the Reformation. The famous Leonardo Da Vinci who has fascinated the world with his skills and ideas also created the first drawing of a “flying machine”, which was yet built in the 20th century. Also there will never be any famous painting filled with wonders such as his Mona Lisa.
Many of the leaders yet to come in history used the ideas of the renaissance philosophers and helped govern their people in a better way. Two famous philosophers were Nicole Machiavelli and Leonardo Bruni. The Renaissance made a huge impact on the world back then and still today it fascinates many people on how the despaired and helpless Europe came out of the dark ages and created wonders. Maybe one day the secrets will be revealed but for now we just got to keep searching and learning about the history.
I agree with carter, the renaissance gave birth to a new way of thinking, to be active with your money and life was praised rather in the middle ages poverty was praised and rewarded. The renaissance changed a whole way of living and activty, art,architecure literature,and education was all expanded and made far more advanced. The rich help boost the renaissance by buying artwork from everywhere. They made the economie great and influenced all the forms of art we now have. If the Renaissance never occured we would not be nearly as advanced as we are today.
The Renaissance was a turning point in the western intellectual and cultural tradition because humanism started to give people new ideas on life. Renaissance art became more known because the artists would put there opinion and out look of life into their art. During the Renaissance people started to gain more knowledge and didn't always agree with what the bible said. Everyone started seeing the true facts and started focusing the art also more on reality of their life. People now started to come up with new ideas for architecture also. It started to become a new world for them.
I agree with Carter. People gained more knowledge from the Renaissance. It was a very positive time period. People had more opportunities and more drive towards everything. They stepped back a little bit from religion and focused more on reality. This was a better way for people to live.
I agree with LucaF. During the Black Death, Europe was chaotic and put life at a stand still. People were constantly dying and all of Europe just started to fall apart. Once the disease stopped spreading and Europe started to recover, thats when people started to realize what was important in life. They focused on art, literature and expressing their mind rather then focusing on the church. Europe changed from being stuck in the gloomy Dark Ages to entering the festive Renaissance.
I disagree with Lucaf.That is a very generalized reason for how the Renaissance came to be. The black plague didn't start the Renaissance. if anything it just impeded the start of the Renaissance. The plague didn't start the Renaissance new ideas, book and philosophy started it.
During the middle ages the bubonic plauge struck killing many people. It was a firece disease that killed off people very quickly. Europe lost many people.Hope seemed to be lost, but then the the Renaissance occured. People began doing many daily activities. Then the idea of Humanism developed and this allowed people to think for themselves. This is what led the Renaissance to being a turning point because it helped people to stop relying on the church and now they can think on their own and have their own ideas. This made a change in the western intellectual and cultural tradition b/c people focused on themselves and not on the bible and the church. Art became a big part of the Renaissance. Paintings and sculpture were based on human form and had vived deatil. The Renaissance helped keep ideas alive and and some ideas have helped society today.
I agree with danielle m the renaissance was a turning point and it was a time when many new ideas were proposed it is also when people began to for the first time openly disagree with the church. It was also time of increased secularization
The Renaissance was a turning point in western intellectual and cultural tradition. One reason that the renaissance was a turning point was that the printing press was created. This new invention could help spread the idea of philosphy and it also helped Martin Luther express his ideas of and his 95 theises. This helped to breake away from the Roman Catholic Church.
i agree with carter when he says "Coming out of the dark Middle Ages the Renaissance was a time of light and individualism" It was a time of light and individualism because there were so many new ideas and concepts emerging for everything including new art, architecture and government. Also there were new chances for philosphy to emerge and scientists to have different aspects on the world.
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