Renaissance is a French term that equates to rebirth. In so doing, the term accurately depicts the intellectual, scientific, and economic changes that occurred in Europe after the Dark Ages lasting through the sixteenth century. Within the Renaissance the rebirth of classical Greek ideals helped turn in new directions art, society, science, and thought. Curiosity and objectivity about the world asserted the importance of individualism which would lead to humanism. From such a view, it was felt that ration and trained thought as perpetrated by Platonic ideals were the highest goal to which man could aspire. For rational thought and virtuous behavior would lead to the highest development of the soul, not pious preaching or devout worship of idols. We see this in the writings of Pietro Pomponazzi when he discusses the kind of men that have become most godlike on earth: “Hence there are three kinds of men to be found. Some are numbered with the gods, although such are but few. And these are the men who, having subjugated the vegetative and sensitive, have become almost completely rational. Some from total neglect of the intellect and from occupying themselves with the vegetative and sensitive alone, have become almost completely rational” (393). During the Renaissance scholars used the pagan values of Greco-Roman society and helped loosen the grip of Christianity that had been so strong during the Middle Ages.
The increasing secularism of the age focused on human interests and values, especially a philosophy that rejected supernaturalism and stressed individual dignity, self-worth, and posited a high value on reason or rational thought as a means of self-realization. In many ways the devastating impact of the Bubonic Plague (the Black Death) turned many individuals away from the church for an answer to the meaning of life. Instead many turned to science for such answers and rational thought. In this way modern science w...