The Renaissance values Were the peculiar qualities that emerged or reappeared during the Renaissance. The three most important were anthropocentrism, secularism and individualism.
The other values that accompanied this movement were skepticism, hedonism and patronage.
Three Renaissance artists: Titian, Botticelli and da Vinci
He Renaissance (Which means resurgence or blossoming of something) is the name given to the great cultural movement that took place from the 14th to the 17th century in Europe, which produced great changes in the economy, science and society.
It is a transitional period between Middle Ages (From the fifth to the fourteenth century) and the Modern age (Eighteenth century). It started in Italian cities but soon spread throughout Western Europe.
In the Renaissance the interest for classical erudition again awoke and the interest for the human being flourished as a being endowed with multi-faceted abilities worthy of appreciating as much as the heavenly deities.
There were numerous inventions and discoveries but we can highlight the discovery of gunpowder, the invention of the printing press, the invention of the compass and the discovery of new continents.
Main values of the Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that awakened the intellect and the individuality of the human being. Although it was revolutionary and changed many things of the time, like any other cultural change, it was slow and gradual.
Thus, although the highly educated men of the time were Renaissance, they lived with servants of the Church and the people who were still medieval.
We will explain the characteristics of each of the values below.
Anthropocentrism and Humanism
In this period a transition was made in the central axis of knowledge, philosophy and life in general.
The Renaissance replaced religion and God as the central point (theocentrism) prevailing throughout the Middle Ages to grant it to the human being. This change was called anthropocentrism.
This change of approach recognized that the human being is the author and actor of human history, so that it is ultimately the center of reality.
Anthropocentrism was one of the philosophical, epistemological and artistic currents initiated by the Greeks and the Romans but forgotten during the Middle Ages, reason why the Renaissance came to the classic knowledge of the Antiquity to recover it. However, the anthropocentrism of the rebirth humanism .
He humanism Is the doctrine or vital attitude based on an integrative conception of human values (Dictionary of the Spanish language, 2017).
It is also understood as the belief system centered on the principle that the needs of human sensibility and intelligence can be satisfied without having to accept the existence of God and the preaching of Religions (Dictionary of the Spanish language, 2017).
Thanks to Humanism, this time is full of optimism and confidence regarding the capabilities of the human being, that is why they venture things never before imagined (Pick, Givaudan, Troncoso, & Tenorio, 2002, page 285), how to explore Overseas territories, to formulate rational explanations of natural events, and to create new things.
It is essential to make it clear that humanism does not rule out God, since many writers, scientists and Renaissance artists Were devout believers of God or inspired by it, but did not reduce their creativity and explanation of things to the will of God.
Today anthropocentrism and humanism are used as synonyms in several contexts. The terms are intimately linked, but in fields such as epistemology and philosophy have their particularities.
2-Classicism
Because anthropocentrism aroused interest in human abilities and appreciation as the center of everything, the Renaissance revived the valid classical knowledge of the world known then: that of the Greek and Roman empires.
Consequently, Renaissance thinkers turned to the philosophical, literary, historical and artistic works of the Greeks and Romans, studied them, learned them to bring them back after 15 centuries.
Thanks to this return, scientific theories of Greeks and Romans that were despised by the Church in the past were reconsidered.
The disadvantageous aspect was that they only took into account Greek and Latin ideas, excluding ancient advanced scientific cultures such as Egyptian or Babylonian.
Secularism
From humanism and the empowerment of the human being as author of his destiny and constructor of reality, arises secularism, a cultural doctrine that gains much ground in politics, economy and daily life.
He Secularism Is the belief or doctrine that considers that religion should not have a part in the public affairs, the economy and the ordering of the private life of the people.
Secularism along with humanism was present in the Renaissance but does not mean that it was immediately accepted.
Remember that the Church was an institution with more than 1000 years of consolidation that had governed the economy, politics, religion and social life of people, so their influence did not disappear in a matter of years, even centuries.
4- Individualism
Humanism is orbit around man but not as a collectivity but as a singular individual with his own desires that can reach them without external interventions, whether divine, social, clerical or state.
Individualism emphasizes the moral, political and ideological principle of"moral dignity of the individual." At this time people discover themselves as individual beings who wish to gain importance and be remembered as unique.
Thus, the artists begin to sign their works, the nobles and bourgeois demand to be portrayed by artists, are written biographies, etc.
5. Skepticism
The medieval Church and its simplistic and reductionist explanations of science and the social aspects of human life, liberate in the Renaissance thinkers the desire to seek more structured and deep responses of the natural phenomena and the life of the people. Out of this unease arises skepticism.
Skepticism was the inquisitive attitude in all aspects of life and science. Consequently, Renaissance thinkers began to doubt the widely accepted truths or explanations about things.
Skepticism subsequently rationalism And the Empiricism and Opened a range of variants such as Philosophical skepticism, religious skepticism and the Scientific skepticism .
6- Hedonism
It is the theory and doctrine that comes from the Greek school of thought that states that pleasure and happiness Are the intrinsic goods that underpin human life.
Through this doctrine, the suffering, resignation and guilt of feeling inculcated by the Church throughout the Middle Ages are abandoned, and the recovery of sensorial, carnal and material pleasures (Escuelapedia, 2017) is abandoned.
7- Patronage
The patronage is the economic sponsorship of artists, writers and scientists to develop their works.
It was carried out by wealthy noble or bourgeois families who provided money and other resources.
References
- Spanish dictionary. (21 of 7 of 2017). Humanism . Retrieved from"Dictionary of the Spanish Language: dle.rae.es.
- Encyclopedia Britannica. (21 of 7 of 2017). Renaissance . Retrieved from"Encyclopedia Britannica": britannica.com.
- About Me (21 of 7 of 2017). The main characteristics of the Renaissance . Obtained from Escuelapedia: escuelapedia.com.
- About Me (21 of 7 of 2017). Cultural renaissance . Obtained from Escuelapedia: escuelapedia.com.
- History. (21 of 7 of 2017). Renaissance art . Retrieved from"History: history.com".
- Pick, S., Givaudan, M., Troncoso, A., & Tenorio, A. (2002). Theme III. Society as a historical and cultural process: Values during the Renaissance. In S. Pick, M. Givaudan, A. Troncoso, & A. Tenorio, Civic and ethical formation. First grade. (Pages 285-287). Mexico D.F.: Limusa.
- Renaissance . (21 of 7 of 2017). Retrieved from Brooklyn College: academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu.