Humanism Humanism and the Renaissance invol

Humanism and the Renaissance involved similar revivals of classical learning, an elevation of the individual, and a belief in the worth of human thought over authority, whether the latter be the authority of a political body or a church. The essence of humanism is found in the works produced during the Renaissance by writers, artists, and sculptors as they structured their works with humanistic values in mind. At the same time, these ideas began at the end of the Medieval period as Italy was moving into the Renaissance, and many of these aspects of the humanist spirit are apparent in the writings of Machiavelli and those of Christine de Pizan (also spelled Pisan). Machiavelli suggested the supremacy of the leader, the Prince, and differentiated politics based on secular outcomes from those based on theological principles. Christine de Pizan can be considered an early feminist writer who suggested an expanded role for women in all social classes and who indicated the way women should behave to achieve an exalted position. One element that connects the two writers is that much of their work combines the theoretical with the fully practical. Thus, while Machiavelli talks directly to the Prince and tells him how to rule, Christine de Pizan speaks directly to women and tells them not only how to behave but also how to run a household, raise children, select fashions, and so on. Machiavelli remains far better known than Christine, but both provide insight in

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elf and to promote morality among the people. Machiavelli indeed saw Italy as a morally bankrupt country that needed the strong hand of a leader to guide it back to a moral path. Yet, it also seems that "virtue" has a different meaning for Machiavelli than it had for a Christian theorist such as St. Thomas Aquinas. Machiavelli creates two levels of virtue, one for the mass of people and one for the leader. In his view of what the mass should maintain as a moral stance, Machiavelli is closer to Aquinas. Machiavelli may not admire such Christian virtues as humility, but he sees a value in these virtues as controlling agents for the masses. For the Prince, Machiavelli admires the virtues of strength of character, the ability to achieve what one sets out to do, and the ability to acquire and maintain power. The law is determined by need: There is no pretence that the legitimacy of government's operations depends on their conformity with God's law, natural law, or any such transcendent standard. . . Machiavelli is thus a significant figure. . . in the intellectual march that was to lead through Hobbes and Rousseau towards the totalitarian state of the twentieth century. For Machiavelli, virtue depends on law and the abi

Category: Philosophy - H