Humanism In The Italian Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance was one of the major influences in the world history. It marked the transition from Middle Ages to the modern world, and it is was a very complex phenomenon where people started a cycle in which criticism played an important role. The Italian Renaissance humanism was an intellectual movement and it was developed in Italy. The meaning of renaissance is defined as rebirth. This name comes from the idea of the rebirth of cultural elements that had disappeared during the Middle Ages, such as the importance of reason, proportion, and balance. which many of them present in the ancient cultures like Greece and Rome.

The humanist man studied different fields: science, philosophy, art, etc. Most of all the humanist man investigated

the meaning of man as an individual and their intellectual capacity. The idea of this movement was that man was completely educated, and harmoniously developed physically and spiritually, without limiting their knowledge on the particular field.
The prototype is found in the poet Francesco Petrarca, known as the father of the renaissance. Petrarca was respected and recognized by men of his time. The poems written by Petrarch expressed all the human emotions which at the time were not allowed at all. He contributed to the definitive introduction of Italian as a literary language. In addition, with his example of life, Petrarca showed others to not be afraid to express their opinion and to have that hunger to learn more.
Leonardo Bruni was another important humanist who was known for promoting civic Humanism. Leonardo Bruni saw history as freedom and independence. He thought that the source of the vitality of Florence was the people, and with the development of Florentine they could make the town a better place. One of Bruni’s goals was to improve the education for a better future and in that way contribute to society. Most of all he realizes that is not only to .. to the community the idea to moves further the idea of Petrarch. The development of this movement seeks to recover the human aspect (anthropocentrism), philosophical (valuation of classic philosophical systems, aesthetic (search for the harmony of forms), and new political views. All these factors, among others, were the rise of a new culture, defined as humanism, which as an expression of rising spirit, projected their concerns of social consciousness. The new concept recognized where man based their knowledge, admiration, of the Classical period.