4---The-Beginnings-of-Modern-Science-and-Philosophy.pdf

—CHAPTER 4
The Beginnings of Modern
Science and Philosophy
The Renaissance is generally dated from approxi- was focused on a wide range of human activities.
mately 1450 to 1600, although many historians How do we think, behave, and feel? Of what are we
would date its beginning much earlier. Renaissance capable? These and related questions are reflected in
means “rebirth,”and during this period the tendency the four major themes that characterized Renais-
was to go back to the more open-minded method of sance humanism.
inquiry that had characterized early Greek philoso- 1. Individualism. There was great concern with hu-
phy. It was a time when Europe gradually switched man potential and achievement. The belief in
from being God-centered to being human-centered. the power of the individual to make a positive dif-
If God existed, he existed in nature; therefore, to ference in the world created a spirit of optimism.
study nature was to study God. Also, because God
had given humans the ability to create works of art, 2. Personal religion. Although all Renaissance hu-
why not exercise that ability to the fullest? The new manists were devout Christians, they wanted re-
view was that there is more to humans than their ligion to be more personal and less formal and
souls: They had reliable sensory systems, so why not ritualistic. They argued for a religion that could
use them? They had reasoning powers, so why not ex- be personally experienced rather than one that
ercise them? And they had the capacity for enjoy- the church hierarchy imposed on the people.
ment, so why not enjoy? After all, God, in his infinite 3. Intense interest in the past. The Renaissance hu-
wisdom, must have given humans these attributes for manists became enamored with the past. The
a reason. Attention was diverted from the heavens, works of the early Greek and Roman poets, phi-
where the Pythagoreans, Platonists, and early Chris- losophers, and politicians we