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Petrarch was an Italian scholar and poet in Renaissance Italy, and one of the first humanists. He was obliged to study Law at University of Montpellier by his father, whereas he was more interested in literature and art and the only thing that he liked about law is that they refer to mush to Rome and Greece. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is the begining of the 14th-century Renaissance. During his travels, he collected Latin manuscripts and was a main agent in the recovery of knowledge from writers of Greece and Rome. An extremely thoughtful man, he shaped the nascent humanist movement a great deal for the reason that many of the internal struggles and musings expressed in his works were seized upon by Renaissance humanist philosophers
Plutarch presented history through biographical stories of the people that were important and influential during the time period he wished to address. However, after having read some of his work, one realizes that Plutarch inserts his own personal opinion and views of the people at hand into the factual documentation of their lives. For example, in The Life of Crassus, Plutarch expresses a general dislike and negative view of the man, but in The Life of Caesar he portrays the life through a lens of praise. It also seems that he uses his opinions of the people that he writes about to subtly extend moral lessons to the reader. What follows is a further isolation of Plutarch's opinions and lessons from within The Lives of Crassus and Caesar.
His character traits are listed in three main accounts by authors A.J. Koutsoukis, Erik Hildinger, who are both current impartial historical non-fiction writers and, Plutarch. Plutarch was a Greek historian, biographer and essayist, who is most famous for his work Parallel Lives, where he focuses on all of the contributing rulers of the Roman Republic. Plutarch is very even handed and focuses on the influence of character and moral lessons that can be learned from these emperors, good or bad.
Classical liberalism is a theory of democracy that saids the best kind of government is one
Human Nature as Viewed by Thomas Hobbes and David Hume Thomas Hobbes in Chapter 13 of Leviathan, and David Hume in Section 3 of An Enquiry Concerning the Princples of Morals, give views of human nature. Hobbes’ view captures survivalism as significant in our nature but cannot account for altruism. We cover Hobbes’ theory with a theory of Varied Levels of Survivalism, explaining a larger body of behavior with the foundation Hobbes gives. Hume gives a scenario which does not directly prove fruitful, but he does capture selfless behavior.
Human Nature and Moral Theory in Plato’s Republic. In Chapter 2 of Republic, Glaucon uses the Myth of the Lydian Shepherd to portray a pessimistic view of human nature. Plato, the author of Republic, uses his brother Glaucon to tell the Myth of the Lydian Shepherd. We are led to believe that Plato takes the myth and its implications on human nature very seriously by using a personal character.
Simply defined, happiness is the state of being happy. But, what exactly does it mean to “be happy?” Repeatedly, many philosophers and ideologists have proposed ideas about what happiness means and how one attains happiness. In this paper, I will argue that Aristotle’s conception of happiness is driven more in the eye of ethics than John Stuart Mill. First, looking at Mill’s unprincipled version of happiness, I will criticize the imperfections of his definition in relation to ethics. Next, I plan to identify Aristotle’s core values for happiness. According to Aristotle, happiness comes from virtue, whereas Mill believes happiness comes from pleasure and the absence of pain. Ethics are the moral principles that govern a person’s behavior which are driven by virtues - good traits of character. Thus, Aristotle focuses on three things, which I will outline in order to answer the question, “what does it mean to live a good life?” The first of which is the number one good in life is happiness. Secondly, there is a difference between moral virtues and intellectual virtues and lastly, leading a good life is a state of character. Personally and widely accepted, happiness is believed to be a true defining factor on leading a well intentioned, rational, and satisfactory life. However, it is important to note the ways in which one achieves their happiness, through the people and experiences to reach that state of being. In consequence, Aristotle’s focus on happiness presents a more arguable notion of “good character” and “rational.”
The idea of the Renaissance Gentleman. Just as it is false to see the Renaissance as a simple and sharp contrast with the Middle Ages, as did Michelet and Burckhardt, neither should it be seen as all of one piece. After the age of civic humanism came the dominance of the Medici in Florence, and in those contacts made with eastern scholars when the Council of Florence was attempting the reconciliation of the Eastern and Western Churches (a last effort to stave off the menace of the Turk) Cosimo de'Medici had been attracted to the figure of Plato. So there came his patronage of Marsilio Ficino and the birth of the Platonic Academy. Ficino became the disciple of Plato, and an advocate of neo-Platonism. Perhaps coincidentally, but as befits a court, the contemplative ideal began once more to gain over the active one. It was transmitted potently to Europe by a book that mirrored one of the noblest of Italian courts, that of Urbino. This was Baldassar Castiglione's Il cortegiano/The Book of the Courtier). Published in 1528 (that is, after the Sack of Rome, 1527) it has a nostalgic vision of the civilisation nurtured in Urbino from the time of Federigo da Montefeltro, in one of the most beautiful of princely palaces. Apart from offering in its close the neoplatonic idea to Europe, it recommended not so much the status of the courtier, as the ideal of the gentleman. There is no other comparable book that encapsulated the ideals of the Italian Renaissance, and its European success ensured the diffusion of the message. (Penguin Hutchinson Reference Library Copyright (c) 1996 Helicon Publishing and Penguin Books Ltd)
Perhaps Petrarch was consider the first humanist because of the focus in the writing that he put upon himself making his writings revolve around him. The nature of his humanism was different to the modern definition of humanism. He still believed in God as the 155 lines says.It is probably faulty to assume that he is the first humanist because he simply borrowed the classical culture from earlier times.His point is to enlighten
A central focus of the Renaissance was humanism. Humanism was an intellectual movement that claimed the heart of the Renaissance. Humanists studied the classical cultures of Greece and Rome. They used their newly acquired knowledge to develop a better understand of their own times. Humanists, although they were mostly Christian, did not focus of religion. Instead they were fixated on worldly subjects. It was believed that education should stimulate one’s creative mind. Humanists emphasized humanities, which are classic subjects such as grammar and poetry.
Despite their differences, The New Education, Education of a Christian Prince, and The Prince provide insight to the political and social circumstances of the time and the importance of humanism in the Renaissance. The connecting strand throughout all three of the sources is the revival of the classical period. The citations of ancient Greek and Roman philosophers reveal the importance of classical values in the Renaissance period. Besides that great similarity, the sources also contain some major differences. The most important contrasts within the sources are political ideas, the role of religion, and philosophical perspective. Together the sources depict the movement away from Christianity and idealism towards secular ideas and realism. The Erasmus source is the most traditional, and the Machiavelli source is the most modern, while the Vergerius source is somewhere in between. The Renaissance was the tipping point between the middle ages and the modern era, and that is apparent within the similarities and difference of these sources. From The New Education, Education of a Christian Prince, and The Prince, it can be concluded that the humanist movement was extremely significant during the Renaissance, and humanists contributed to the development of new ideas through the revival of the past ideas of classical Greece and
In the early days of the Renaissance, the new philosophical concept of humanism was emerging (Kidner et al. 340). Turning their attention to the notion of what it means to be human, humanist scholars admired ancient Roman literature for its
Humanist philosophy was mainly concerned with human conduct in the world. This was radically different than the scholasticism that was prevalent throughout the thirteenth century. Humanism gave birth to new ways to question life and spirituality. The new humanist philosophy of the Renaissance set the stage for Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.
Renaissance humanists shared a common philosophical core. Humanists were characterized by their interest in grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, and philosophy from the fifteenth century onward. The most mainstream humanist goal was the perfection of classical Latin in the art of persuasive speaking and writing as well as grammar. With this, an ideal humanist educators aimed for was that of Latin being like a native tongue to the student. Going on, passages were interpreted by Renaissance humanists with the belief that the work was a product of a living man who was part of a particular time period, whose opinions and views were connected to their biographies and histories. With all this in mind, the Renaissance humanist used the literary and historical context of a piece to interpret it. Moreover, the movement is often characterized by a widely supported interpretation of the humanist movement during t...
Humanism is the study and contemplation of past human achievements involving art, literature, philosophy and architecture. Secularism was emphasized, and religious ideas were put aside so people could focus on the intellectual and physical victories of the past. During the Renaissance, they were particularly fascinated in the intellectual and substantial strifes of the Ancient Romans and Greeks. The architecture was taken closely into check since humanists living in Rome were constantly walking through the magnificent, ancient ruins. The concepts studied by humanists influenced how these subjects were taught and viewed by scholars and younger individuals. Not only were humanists interested in past human accomplishments, but they were also enthralled
Renaissance is a cultural movement which is originated in Italy in the 15th century. The term Renaissance means rebirth. The main theme of the movement was the idea of humanism. Humanism refers to the development of human personality, with a human being in the center of activity. Renaissance comparison with previous cultural movement in which God was the center of the universe and all activities and the human being was just a creature waiting for the salvation. Renaissance was an important movement in the history because affected every aspect of human life.