For a humanist, all human beings are born with moral value, and have a responsibility to help one another live better lives. Dante had an admiration for ancient letters. Humanism. Jacob Burckhardt’s seminal 1860 work, "The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy," solidified the definition of humanism into the study of classical—Greek and Roman—texts to affect how you viewed your world, taking from the ancient world to reform the "modern" and giving a worldlier, human outlook focusing on the ability of humans to act and not blindly follow a religious plan. Guillaume Budé Portrait by Jean Clouet from 1536. ism (hyo͞o′mə-nĭz′əm) n. 1. a. There remains a question over what exactly Renaissance Humanism was. Renaissance Platonism was a product of humanism and marked a sharper break with medieval philosophy. Humanism affected the art of the Renaissance because of how Renaissance artists became increasingly interested with humanist concepts, and because of how they tried to incorporate humanist beliefs into their art. Its leading protagonists held jobs primarily as teachers of grammar and literature. Humanism had spread across Europe, and while it split in Italy, the stable countries to the north fostered a return of the movement that began to have the same massive effect. But what developed wasn't a set of second-generation mimics; Renaissance Humanism began to use knowledge, love, and maybe even obsession with the past to change how they and others saw and thought about their own era. Renaissance scholars like Erasmus who studied the classics and mankind were called “humanists” (retrospectively, which was the word’s first use). Rather it was a cultural movement centred on rhetoric, literature and history. Before this time, during the Middle Ages, war and disease precluded advances in art and literature and the powerful influence of the Catholic church limited significant advances in science and philosophy. T he revival of Classical learning inspired the philosophy of Renaissance Humanism, a key element that helped to shape the intellectual and artistic development in Italy and across Europe from around 1400 to 1650. This Renaissance included a renewed interest in Greco-Roman texts, a rekindled love of learning, an increased interest in understanding the natural world, and the philosophy of humanism. Humanism, also known as Renaissance Humanism, was an intellectual movement embraced by scholars, writers, and civic leaders in 14th- and early-15th-century Italy. Karl Popper said it was like food: breakfast, lunch and dinner are human inventions, but the need to eat and to space out that eating are part of our nature. If you see humanism as a secular "freedom from God" movement (as your freshman history professor likely defined it), than you'd see the Renaissance as some kind of exaultation of man over the bad ol' religion. Renaissance humanists believed that the liberal arts (music, art, grammar, rhetoric, oratory, history, poetry, using classical texts, and the studies of all of the above) should be practiced by all levels of wealth. This was a time period when man focused on his own enlightenment and less on religious strength. Conversely, the general theme of “art” was prominent in humanistic discourse. History of Humanism With Ancient Renaissance Philosophers. The Renaissance was a great revolution in Europe from the ways of the Middle Ages. Thus he is grudgingly prepared to acknowledge figures that Kristeller counted as Platonist philosophers, but, like him, has no time for any of the humanists. C) a philosophy born out of the Enlightenment which teaches that all humans are born with natural rights. As we have seen, it is a key humanist belief that morality arises from human nature, but it is shaped by our experience and culture. A) a perspective that emerged out of the Renaissance which places humanity at the center of all inquiry. The Neoplatonic conception of philosophy as a way toward union with God supplied many Renaissance Platonists with some of their richest inspiration. B) an idea of the Scientific Revolution which holds that humans are meant to be the lords of the natural world. The humanism of the Renaissance is either praised for shattering medieval superstitions or lamented for elevating the autonomous self against traditional religious authorities. Humanism has been described and interpreted in many different ways, and its meaning has been the subject of much controversy, just as has been the concept of the Renaissance itself. 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