Student Question
What was Renaissance humanism?
Quick answer:
Renaissance humanism was an educational and intellectual movement that emphasized reading classical Greek and Roman texts to derive moral theories and principles, rather than using them to support syllogistic arguments. It placed humans at the center of intellectual endeavors, contrasting with the medieval view of human depravity. This new attitude influenced humanists like Pico Della Mirandola and Erasmus, promoting a worldview that celebrated human potential and dignity.
Humanism in one sense was basically a curriculum, an approach to learning that emphasized reading classical texts, not to pull out isolated passages for supporting syllogistic arguments, but to derive moral theories and principles. So humanists turned to classical texts, both Greek and Roman, in the search for meaning. This search, however, produced a new attitude or mentality that we often associate with the humanists, namely that man himself ought to be placed at the center of intellectual endeavor. This view, which departed from the idea that man was essentially depraved and debased, became central to the writings of such humanists as Pico Della Mirandola, Erasmus, and others.
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