THE RENAISSANCE

The Renaissance in Europe is the great movement which brought about the awakening of new interest in the old classics. It originated in the 14th-15th century and brought about a transition from faith to reason, from dogma to science. Literally the term ’Renaissance’ means "rebirth" and it signified the revival of the study of old classics. It was basically an enthusiastic study of the masterpieces of ancient Latin and Greek literature, with a new interest. Thus a new outlook was developed in the realm of thought and action.
In the broad sense, the Renaissance stood for an all-round development as well as a widening of horizons. There was a fresh realization that the world is full of interest and beauty. The Renaissance also gave rise to curiosity and the growth of the spirit of inquiry, which resulted in great discontent with the medieval spirit. Through its bold approach, the Renaissance encouraged an intellectual revolt against the rigid rules and traditions of the medieval period. The greatest service rendered by the Renaissance, was the release of the human mind and the birth of original thinking. This led to rapid progress in all spheres of activity. It also led to several movements, which took place simultaneously, such as the rise of a new political order, geographical discoveries and the reformation movement which ushered in the modern times.

Causes of the Renaissance

Many causes led to the success of the Renaissance movement. Ideas that were not based on reason could not continue indefinitely. The clergy in the church, in actual practice, acted contrary to the principles of true Christianity that they preached. This undermined faith in the ideas of the universal church and the universal empire. Original thinkers such as Roger Bacon and Peter Abelard managed to weaken the intellectual authority of the church by blazing new trails.
Peter Abelard (1079-1142) felt that it was essential to apply reason to the principles given in the scriptures. In his opinion, the mysteries of Christianity were not to be taken for granted. They had to be tested in the light of reason and investigation. Another revolutionary thinker was Roger Bacon (1214-1294). He criticized Aristotle and the church severely. He accepted from the past whatever was reasonable and worked patiently for the cause of the new spirit. He had the foresight to anticipate several modern invasions and wrote about the possibility of having ships without rowers, vehicles without draught animals and flying machines. However, owing to their bold approach and original thinking, both of these thinkers were persecuted by the church.
The fall of Constantinople (1453) led to a widespread and systematic study of Greek heritage. After this great center of classical civilization and culture fell into hands of the Ottoman Turks, Greek scholars fled to various parts of Europe, where they diffused the great ideas of ancient Greece. Thus an enthusiasm in the study of the classics was injected into the minds of the Europeans.
A rapid spread of ideas was possible by the introduction of the printing press. In the middle of the 15th century, Johannes Gutenberg was successful in operating the first printing press at Mainz in Germany. In 1456, the first book was printed in.
Compared to manuscripts which were available to only a select few, printed books were easy and cheap to produce. This ensured widespread dissemination of ideas among masses. Also, at the same time literature started to be written in local languages like German, French, Spanish, Italian, English etc. thereby increasing its spread among commoners who could not understand Greek or Latin, the dominant literature languages of the time.
New ideas were brought to Europe owing to the Crusades which brought about contacts with the Arabs and other people in the East. Voyages were conducted to new countries by adventurers. The geographical explorers and travelers felt that it was essential to absorb the ideas of the East and also to create new ideas. Their voyages of exploration and discovery led to wealth and prosperity, as well as to a broader vision.
A great role was played by progressive kings & Popes in fostering the Renaissance. Some of the nobles and rich merchants also patronized art and scholarship. For example, artists like Michael Angelo and Leonardo ad Vinci were patronized by the brilliant Medici family of Florence. Indeed the most generous patrons of artists and men of letters in Europe were the heads of great Florentine banking firms like the Medici.

Origin of Renaissance

The Renaissance had its origin in Italy where it blossomed and later spread to the other countries of Europe. There were several causes leading to the origin of the Renaissance in Italy which became the school of Europe in the Renaissance.
• Scholarly refugees such as the Greeks played an important role in stimulating the movement, after they settled in Italy, on fleeing from Constantinople, in 1453.
• The Italian cities grew very rich by controlling the distribution of Asian goods on the European continent.
• The love of learning was fostered by the rich merchant princes of the Italian cities, who competed with each other in patronizing learning, art and science.
• Rome soon became a great center of civilization, culture, art, learning and literature, while Florence and Venice became the leading cities of the Renaissance.
• Italy was regarded as the seat of the great power and glory of the ancient Romans since it contained the ruins of ancient Rome.
• Further the Italian language was closest to the classical Latin language.

Features of renaissance

The characteristics of Renaissance were humanism, nationalism, a new approach to life, and a new spirit in art, architecture, literature and learning, the growth of the vernaculars, and scientific investigation.

a) Humanism
The Renaissance scholars were known as "humanists" and their subjects of study, came to be called the "humanities." Petrarch is regarded as the Father of Humanism. This movement could be regarded for the turning away from the medieval traditions of asceticism and theology towards an interest in man’s life on this earth. The works of Renaissance scholars were permeated with the faith that man with an active mind and body is capable of knowing and controlling the world.

b) Rational spirit & scientific investigation
The rise of the rational spirit and of scientific investigation gave rise to a new approach to life. Whereas the medieval approach was one of absolute conformity and obedience, the new approach was based on reason. It laid emphasis on the importance of critical examination and evaluation of ideas and principles .

c) Literature
During the medieval age, all the important writing was done in Latin, which was the language of the Church. The cultured people generally looked down upon the European vernaculars. However in the 13th century, Dante wrote The Divine Comedy in Italian rather than Latin. This great Italian poet is regarded as the link between the medieval and the modern world. With this began an era of development of vernacular literature.

• Dante’s example was soon followed by others. Thus Petrarch wrote a series of love sonnets. He roused the interest of the people in the great works of Virgil, Cicero, Livy and others. Machiavelli wrote his historical works and his Prince as a guide for rulers. Bocaccio, Ariosto and Tasso were other Italian writers of the period.
• In England Sir Thomas More’s Utopia appeared in English in 1551. English literature flowered through Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Milton’s Paradise Lost and Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayers and the dramas of the immortal Shakespeare.
• A great contribution was made to German literature by Martin Luther by translating the Bible. Spanish literature flourished with the works of several genius minds such as Cervantes and Lope de Vega. Similarly, there were considerable developments in the fields of Dutch, Portugese and French literature.

d) Architecture
The spirit of revival was evident in the field of art too. Some of the distinctive features of Renaissance architecture were round Roman arches, rows of Greek columns, Oriental domes and Islamic decoration. Gothic architecture with its pointed arches and flying buttresses was discarded. The great cities of Europe were adorned with great churches and cathedrals like St. Paul’s at London, St. Peter’s at Rome, and St. Mark’s at Venice.
The highest expression of Renaissance architecture was reached under the direction of great architects like Raphael and Michelangelo by designing the vast basilica of St. Peter, in Rome and also under Leonardo Da Vinci through his beautifully designed buildings at Milan, Pavia and other cities.
In France, kings like Francis I admired the classical style in building, resulting in public structures such as the celebrated palace of the Louvre which now houses one of the world’s largest art collections.
In Spain classical architecture received encouragement after 1550, from King Philip II, while in England, the famous architect Inigo Jones designed the classical banquet house in Whitehall in 1619.

e) Sculpture
Humanism was reflected in Italian sculpture in the 14th century.

• ? Lorenzo Ghiberti was the first great apostle of the “New sculpture” in the 15th century. His marvelous bronze doors on the baptistery in Florence were regarded as “worthy of being placed at the entrance of paradise”.
• ? Donatello created the lifelike statue of ’St. Mark’ in Venice, among his other achievements, while Cellini fashioned the statue of ’Perseus and the slain Medusa’.
• ? Della Robbia was famous for his classical purity and simplicity of style. He founded a school of sculptors in glazed terra-cotta.

During the 16th century, the “new sculpture” spread in Western Europe, as Italian sculptors were invited by Henry VII to England, as well as by Francis I to France. The tomb of Ferdinand and Isabella in Spain was carved on classical lines.

f) Painting
The change in painting was even more striking than in sculpture. Before the 16th century, most of the paintings were frescoes, which are pictures made directly on plaster walls, or on wooden panels. However in the 16th century, easel painting, detached pictures on canvas, wood or other materials developed, while the art of oil painting was mastered. In the Renaissance view, world was a place of beauty and delight. The artists concentrated their efforts on the physical aspects of man's existence rather than that of the religious. Four of the world’s greatest painters namely Leonardo da Vinci (“Mona Lisa”, “The Last Supper”), Michelangelo (“The Last Judgement”), Raphael (“Madonna”) and Titian (Venetian school) flourished in Italy during the 16th century.
The “new painting” soon spread from Italy to become the heritage of all Western Europe. Francis I took Italian painters to France where they trained French painters. Philip II encouraged painting in Spain. Holbein and Durer painted magnificently in Germany.

g) Music
The golden age of Renaissance music began in the 16th century, when the crude musical instruments of the Middle Age took on modern forms and sweeter tones. The harsh rebeck was replaced by the violin and the harpsichord by the piano.
The Roman school of music produced the master composer Palestrina who is rightly called the “father of modern church music”. The other great musicians were Josquin Des Prez and Giovanni Gabrieli (Venice); Thomas Morley and John Wilbye (England); and Orlandus de Lassus (Germany).

h) Science
The spirits of inquiry created by the Renaissance movement led to great progress in science. In the 13th century, Roger Bacon laid the foundations of modern science, by insisting on the experimental method, and discovered the uses of gunpowder and the magnifying lens.
Nicholas Copernicus of Poland revolutionized the thought of mankind by proving that the earth moves round the sun. The Copernican theory was upheld by the Italian astronomer Galileo, and the German astronomer John Kepler. John Kepler improved upon the Copernican theory by showing that the planets go round the Sun in an elliptical orbit. Galileo made important advances in physics through experiments and observations, like those of falling objects, pendulum and telescopes.
Sir Isaac Newton discovered the laws of gravitation, governing the movements of the planets round the sun, as also that of the moon round the earth.
The age of Renaissance also witnessed several inventions and discoveries such as that of the printing press which was of immense importance. The invention of the mariner’s compass helped in the progress of foreign trade. Thus the foundations of modern science were firmly laid in the age of the Renaissance.

Consequences of Renaissance

The Renaissance led to significant results.

• It brought about a transition from the medieval to the modern age. This period witnessed the end of the old and reactionary medieval spirit, and the beginning of the new spirit of science, reason and experimentation.
• The hands of the monarchy were strengthened. The culture of the Europeans was enriched. However, the Renaissance weakened the church, which could not occupy the position of unquestioned authority, it had possessed during the medieval period.
• The Renaissance gave a great impetus to art, architecture, learning and literature which reached tremendous heights. It also created a reverence for antiquity and a great respect for the ancient Greek and Roman classics.
• Further, the Renaissance led to the creation of humanism i.e. focus on man and his world instead of theology.
• Renaissance gave a stimulus to the growth of vernacular literature. As a result, the Italian, French, German, Spanish and English languages blossomed at that time.
• The Protestant Reformation movement was also strengthened by the Renaissance.
• It resulted in far-reaching scientific inventions and geographical discoveries. The study of history was made more critical and scientific owing to the development of a more critical spirit demanding accuracy and the discovery of many historical manuscripts.

THE ENLIGHTENMENT (1650-1800)

The Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, is the name given to the period in Europe and America during the 1700s when mankind was emerging from centuries of ignorance into a new age enlightened by reason, science, and respect for humanity.
This age of reason is supposed to have begun with the publication of ‘the Novum Organum’ by Francis Bacon (1620) and ended with the publication of ‘Critique of Pure Reason’ by Immanuel Kant (1781). On the political scale, it can be assumed to have started with the end of ‘The Thirty Years War’ (1648) and ended with the ‘French Revolution’ (1789).
Immanuel Kant defined the Enlightenment as an age shaped by the Latin motto “Sapere aude” ("Dare to Know"). Unlike Eastern concept of Enlightenment which is spiritual (Moksha, Nirvana) Western Enlightenment is intellectual i.e. development of logic, rationality and objectivity.
This process was closely related to the changes in religion, economy, politics and cultural events in France, Germany and England.
The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment opened a path for independent thought, and the fields of mathematics, astronomy, physics, politics, economics, philosophy, and medicine were drastically updated and expanded.
The amount of new knowledge that emerged was staggering. Just as important was the enthusiasm with which people approached the Enlightenment: intellectual salons popped up in France, philosophical discussions were held, and the increasingly literate population read books and passed them around feverishly. The Enlightenment and all of the new knowledge thus permeated nearly every facet of civilized life.
Whether considered from an intellectual, political, or social standpoint, the advancements of the Enlightenment transformed the Western world into an intelligent and self-aware civilization. It is not simply the knowledge attained during the Enlightenment that makes the era so pivotal—it’s also the era’s groundbreaking and tenacious new approaches to investigation, reasoning, and problem solving that make it so important.
 

Causes

• On the surface, the most apparent cause of the Enlightenment was the Thirty Years’ War. This horribly destructive war, which lasted from 1618 to 1648, compelled German writers to pen harsh criticisms regarding the ideas of nationalism and warfare.
• Second, the Renaissance, with its interest in ancient Greek philosophies, gave rise to secular ideas that helped spawned the scientific revolution of the Enlightenment. This helped discredit the Church's old ideas on the universe and raise the status of humanity and its ability to reason.
• Further, there was the Protestant Reformation. Reformation led to a series of religious wars that ravaged Europe for nearly a century (c.1550-1650). One result of those religious wars was that many people grew tired of religion and socio-economic destruction brought by it. This led to a shift from religion to reason.
• Finally, the rise of towns led to transformation of feudal monarchies into nation states. By the sixteenth century, they were using the doctrine of Divine Right of Kings to undercut the Church's authority in order to elevate their own.
All of these factors converged to undermine the role of blind faith in the Church's authority and helped unleash the age of reason.

Pre-enlightenment discoveries

The Enlightenment developed through a snowball effect: small advances triggered larger ones, and before Europe and the world knew it, almost two centuries of philosophizing and innovation had ensued. These studies generally began in the fields of earth science and astronomy, as notables such as Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei took the old, beloved “truths” of Aristotle and disproved them. Thinkers such as René Descartes and Francis Bacon revised the scientific method, setting the stage for Isaac Newton and his landmark discoveries in physics. From these discoveries emerged a system for observing the world and making testable hypotheses based on those observations. The progressive, rebellious spirit of these scientists would inspire a century’s worth of thinkers.
 

The Enlightenment in England

The first major Enlightenment figure in England was Thomas Hobbes, who caused great controversy with the release of his provocative treatise Leviathan (1651). In this, he discussed the theory of social contract. He wrote on the best form of governance and assumed that man was innately evil and lived in anarchy. This situation could only be avoided with the creation of a strong and absolute central government through a form of social contract. Peace could only be achieved when man allowed the suppression of personal freedom.
A half century later, John Locke came into the picture, promoting the opposite type of government—a representative government—in his Two Treatises of Government (1690-94). Locke's basic idea was that government, rather than being at the whim of an absolute monarch with no checks on his power, existed merely as a trust to carry out the will of the people and protect their "lives, liberty, and property." If it failed in its duties or acted arbitrarily, the subjects had the right to form a new government, by revolution if necessary.
Locke’s message was closer to the English people’s hearts and minds. In 1688, English Protestants helped overthrow the Catholic king James II and installed the Protestant monarchs William and Mary. In the aftermath of this Glorious Revolution, the English government ratified a new Bill of Rights that granted more personal freedoms.
 

The Enlightenment in France

France’s Enlightenment came a bit later, in the mid-1700s, but the influence of the Enlightenment ideas was most widespread here because of the efforts of the philosophes. These philosophes, though varying in style and area of particular concern, generally emphasized the power of reason and sought to discover the natural laws governing human society.
The Baron de Montesquieu tackled politics by elaborating upon Locke's work. In his book "The Spirit of the Law" published in 1748, he gave the classic exposition of the idea of separation of powers. Montesquieu’ view is that concentration of legislative, executive and judicial functions either in one single person or a body of persons results in abuse of authority and such an organization becomes tyrannical. He argued that the three organs of government should be so organized that each should be entrusted to different persons and each should perform distinct functions within the sphere of power assigned to it.
Voltaire took a more caustic approach, choosing to incite social and political change by means of satire and criticism. He was famous for his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state.
Denis Diderot, unlike Montesquieu and Voltaire, had no revolutionary aspirations; he was interested merely in collecting as much knowledge as possible for his mammoth Encyclopédie. But his Encyclopédie, which ultimately weighed in at thirty-five volumes, would go a long way to disseminate the Enlightenment knowledge to other countries around the world.
 

Romanticism

In reaction to the rather empirical philosophies of Voltaire and others, Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote The Social Contract (1762), a work championing a form of government based on small, direct democracy that directly reflects the general will of the people. For him, humans had to hand over their rights and personal freedom to a sovereign body which decides the form of laws that would protect them as members of society with the same basic rights. All members of society would obey general laws that were agreed upon collectively.The unprecedented intimate perspective that Rousseau provided contributed to a burgeoning Romantic era that would be defined by an emphasis on emotion and instinct, instead of reason. This was the movement which grew as a response to dry logic and objectivity of the Enlightenment.
 

Skepticism

Another undercurrent that threatened the prevailing principles of the Enlightenment was skepticism. Skeptics questioned whether human society could really be perfected through the use of reason and denied the ability of rational thought to reveal universal truths. Their philosophies revolved around the idea that the perceived world is relative to the beholder and, as such, no one can be sure whether any truths actually exist.
Immanuel Kant, working in Germany during the late eighteenth century, took skepticism to its greatest lengths, arguing that man could truly know neither observed objects nor metaphysical concepts; rather, the experience of such things depends upon the psyche of the observer, thus rendering universal truths impossible. The theories of Kant, along with those of other skeptics such as David Hume, were influential enough to change the nature of European thought and effectively end the Enlightenment.
 

Role of major thinkers during the age of enlightenment

The main characteristic of the intellectual movement of the Age of Enlightenment was the emergence of personalities such as political reformists, cultural critics, religious sceptics, historians and social thinkers. Among them were Mary Wollstonecraft, Henri de Saint-Simon, Adam Smith, Jean Condorcet, Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Hobbes and Montesquieu.
Most philosophers who emerged in this era presented critical questions about the existing social system. They suggested that changes be made through political actions, by holding campaigns for freedom of speech. It was these ideas that formed the basis of the French Revolution (1789 to 1799).
Although the philosophers of this era held different principles and political interests, they were all involved in finding the truth based on rational principles. This group also believed that each aspect of man’s life could be studied systematically and critically. French social thinkers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieue, Condorcet and Johannes Kepler were considered extremists for challenging Catholic dogma, superstitions, myths, aristocratic privileges and the feudal system which hampered the development of the mind and freedom of thought.
They also held that the objectives of science were to enable man to conduct self-examinations, decide society’s direction as well as handle and solve social, economic and political issues. Scientific knowledge was of a practical value and could be used to build a better society.

End of Enlightenment

Ultimately, the Enlightenment fell victim to competing ideas from several sources. Romanticism was more appealing to less-educated common folk and pulled them away from the empirical, scientific ideas of earlier Enlightenment philosophers. Similarly, the theories of skepticism came into direct conflict with the reason-based assertions of the Enlightenment and gained a following of their own.
What ultimately and abruptly killed the Enlightenment, however, was the French Revolution. Begun with the best intentions by French citizens inspired by Enlightenment thought, the revolution attempted to implement orderly representative assemblies but quickly degraded into chaos and violence. Many people cited the Enlightenment-induced breakdown of norms as the root cause of the instability and saw the violence as proof that the masses could not be trusted to govern themselves. Nonetheless, the discoveries and theories of the Enlightenment philosophers continued to influence Western society for centuries.