Humanism and the Age of the Renaissance

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Humanism and the Age of the Renaissance

• 1300-1500
• (Fourteenth-Sixteenth Centuries)

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• Humanism focuses on human experiences, values,
  and interests it is a belief in humankind and
  its inherent worth and dignity.
• In essence, classical humanism refers to the
  re-discovery of ancient classical Greco-Roman
  texts (translated, studied, and preserved by both
  Christian and Muslim scholars after the collapse
  of Rome in 276 ACE) as well as art and
  architecture.
• In other words, classical humanism in the
  Renaissance shifted from the strongly religious
  focus of medieval times and focused instead on
  human and secular concerns in the areas of
  scientific inquiry, philosophy, medicine, art,
  and literature, with a special emphasis on the
  individual (individualism) and his or her
  potential.

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• For example, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
  (Pico--1463-1494) in his Oration on the Dignity
  of Man writes that Who then will not look with
  awe upon this our chameleon man, or who, at
  least, will look with greater admiration on any
  other being? . . . By reason of this very
  mutability, this nature capable of transforming
  itself, quite rightly said was symbolized by the
  figure of Proteus (32). In this passage, we can
  see how highly Pico values human potential to
  change and transform, and we can also see how he
  uses classical mythology in his reference to
  Proteus, a sea god who was able to change his
  form, just as Pico argues that man, the
  chameleon, can also do. The idea that man can be
  and is worthy to be at the center of all things
  is evident throughout Picos text he even
  suggests that the divine Creator longed for such
  a creation as man.
• Another example of classical humanism is Leonardo
  Da Vincis famous pen and ink drawing called
  Proportional Study of a Man in the Manner of
  Vitruvius or Virtruvian Man. Vitruvius was a
  famous ancient Roman architect, whose texts
  inspired Da Vinci and his interest in seeing how
  man and nature corresponded proportionally and
  geometrically. Like a scientist, Da Vinci looked
  closely at the natural world (plants, animals,
  atmosphere), human anatomy, geometry. In other
  words, he relied upon his close observation of
  the world and knowledge from ancient classical
  texts to inform his studies. In Vitruvian Man,
  we can see how the male figure is the ideal of
  proportion, fit into the circle and square
  (geometry). Man is here, as the book notes, the
  microcosm in the macrocosm (60).

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