HUMANISM

The heart of the Italian Renaissance

An intellectual movement that focused on secular (worldly) rather than on the spiritual (religious) issues of the Medieval thinkers

Petrarch Image from www.google.com/image

Humanists were Christians who hoped to use the wisdom of the Classics (Greek and Roman literature) to increase their understanding of their current place in time

To Seek fulfillment in daily life

Individual has dignity and worth

Challenge long-accepted traditions and institutions

One of the first person’s to challenge was Desiderius Erasmus with his book

The Praise of Folly Erasmus sought

reform within the Catholic Church

Students should study… Grammar Rhetoric History Moral Philosophy (ethics) Mathematics Literary works Poetry Music Astronomy

To stimulate creative and logical powers

Each can exist without the other,

Humanism ties them together

Individual has

dignity and

worth

Students should study…

Challenge long-accepted

traditions and institutions

Seek fulfillment in daily

life

Humanism

A means of understanding how humanity fits into the plan of God’s creation.

A return to Classical principles: balance, symmetry, control, thought and simplicity

Use of mathematics to determine harmony and proportion

Typesof

Humanism

Christian or Northern Renaissance

Major goal was to reform the CHURCH

Believed in the ability of human beings to reason and improve themselves

Christianity should show people how to live good lives on a daily basis rather than provide a system of beliefs that people have to practice to be saved

Civic

Reflected the values of the urban society The duty of the individual is to live an active

life for one’s state (government) An individual only ‘grows to maturity’—both

intellectually and morally—through participation’ in the life of the state

Intellects and their works

Petrarch—Father of Renaissance Humanism Desiderius Erasmus—The Praise of Folly Thomas More--Utopia Leonardo Bruni—History of the Florentine People Niccolo Machiavelli—The Prince Giovanni Pico della Mirandola—Oration of the

Dignity of Man Pietro Paolo Vergerio—Concerning Character