Humanism In Renaissance And Its Historical Influence

The Renaissance is an ideological and cultural movement in Europe from the middle of the 14th century to the 6th century, which marks that mankind has stepped into modern history from the middle ages. In this movement with emancipation of mind as the main melody, the new bourgeoisie, inspired by the classical culture, used a brand-new ideology with human as the core to oppose the old God centered ideology and replaced the old feudal culture dominated by Catholic theology with a new culture, With the direct experience and deep thinking of the subjective and objective world and their relations, the Renaissance broke the shackles of obscurantism and the progressive role of the Renaissance in history. Engels wrote: ‘this is the greatest progressive change that mankind has ever experienced. It is an era that needs giants and produces giants – giants in terms of thinking ability, enthusiasm and personality, and in terms of versatility and erudition.’

The meaning of Renaissance can be understood from the following aspects: ‘Renaissance’ – regeneration, to regain new vitality, that is to say, the Western civilization gained a new vitality and entered a new stage in the Renaissance period. We usually refer to the Renaissance of Western civilization, which originated in Italy in the 14th-16th century, and then developed into the ideological and cultural movement of European countries. What revives and what regains new vitality? During the Renaissance period, a group of scholars began to collect and sort out ancient Greek Literature (important works of some philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato) and some important cultural and ideological heritage for new collation and annotation. Because of this work, we call it ‘Renaissance’. In essence, it initiated a humanistic movement through the revival of ancient Greek culture.

There are three important factors in the social background of the European Renaissance. The first is economy, which first rose in Italy, because Italy was the first country to produce capitalism. In particular, in some cities in northern and central Italy, handicraft industries with embryonic capitalism appeared in the 14th century. With the prosperity of capitalism and the growing ranks of businessmen, they gradually became the early bourgeoisie.

The second factor is culture. In the early days, the Normans conquered the Greek port city of Thessalonica and sold many books to the Italians. The Italians bought tens of thousands of ancient Greek manuscripts. Later, when the Crusaders occupied Constantinople, the invaders traded manuscripts with the Italians. So Venetian merchant ships brought back many ancient books and manuscripts when they returned from Byzantium. After the fall of Byzantium, more Greek and Roman classical culture flowed into Italy.

The third is religion: the religious culture in the Middle Ages emphasized the supremacy of God and advocated that people should be abstinent and atonement. It holds that one is born guilty and one’s life is to live for atonement. People can atone for their sins only through abstinence and church sacraments. It allows people to pursue the afterlife rather than the present. In addition, it made people obey the feudal hierarchy. So people’s minds are bound by religious hierarchy. After the emerging bourgeoisie had its own economic strength, they further pursued political status, so they had to use their liberalism to resist the oppression of religious culture at that time. With the budding of capitalism, a large number of Greek and Roman classical culture, and the fetters of religious thought, there were still a large number of talents who were familiar with literature, art, philosophy, history and other scientific and cultural knowledge. Under their organization, or launch, the Renaissance movement rose.

The core of humanism is to emphasize the status, value and dignity of human beings, to be human centered, to affirm real life and secular life, to respect rationality and to emphasize individual freedom. In medieval Europe, the Christian Church advocated that human beings were small and insignificant in front of God and the Christian Church. People should obey God. Only through the church can they communicate with God. God is the center of the world. The purpose of life is not to pursue happiness and enjoyment. People should not have any desire and pursuit, do not learn culture and knowledge, but should devoutly believe in God and the Christian Church, obey the rule of the Christian Church honestly, and be a loyal believer who often repents to the church. Humanists break through the shackles of this thought. Dante, the pioneer of the European Renaissance, boldly praised the value and dignity of human beings. He said: ‘the nobility of human beings, in terms of many achievements, exceeds the nobility of angels.’ ‘As a whole, human beings’ duty is to continuously exercise all their abilities of intellectual development,’ he said People’s intellectual development is even stronger than that of angels.

He also believes that human beings have the ability to make a difference and innovate in all disciplines and arts. He advocated that ‘the strong man with intelligence is born to govern people’, thus denying the theory that religious power is higher than monarchy. While affirming the dignity and nobility of human beings, Dante put forward different standards for the classification of feudal hierarchical relations, and divided the social status of human beings by human intelligence. In the Divine Comedy, he put the ancient philosophers in a high position and let them rise to a peaceful and harmonious heaven, while the Pope was arranged in hell, which also reflected this idea. In his works, Petrarch, the father of humanism, bravely put forward that ‘man’ and ‘God’ are two opposite and irreconcilable concepts. He firmly believes that his era is a new era dominated by human beings. ‘I don’t want to be God, or to live in eternity, or to hold heaven and earth in my arms. The glory that belongs to man is enough for me. This is all I pray for. I am mortal myself, and I only ask for the happiness of mortals. “

Petrarch believed that it should be man who dominates the world rather than the illusory gods. He has realized that man has a special status and significance in the world. In his Hamlet play, Shakespeare, a famous humanist, praised the dignity and dignity of the beauty: ‘what a wonderful work man is! How noble the ideal is, how infinite the power is! How upright and excellent the appearance and manner is, how like an angel, on understanding, and how like a god! The essence of the universe, the primate of all things! ‘ Michelangelo created many works to show the power of man. Although most of his works are based on the gods in Biblical stories, these gods have human expression, healthy and beautiful physique, showing infinite power. In a word, the literary and artistic works of the Renaissance fully reflect the greatness of human beings, the vitality of human beings and the earnest hope for a better and happy life in reality. Humanists pay more and more attention to their own value, discover ‘man’, and look at the world with human as the center, and try to get rid of the medieval ‘God’ as the center to observe the state of the world, thus reflecting a valuable humanistic ideology. It turns out that ‘church dogma is also a political creed, and the words of the Bible have the force of law in all courts’; now, ‘the supreme authority of Theology in the whole field of intellectual activities’ is also declining!

Humanism opposes asceticism, emphasizes the significance of real life, advocates positive life, and encourages people to pursue realistic happy life and secular enjoyment. Humanists give full affirmation to human nature and natural requirements, which is contrary to the Christian preaching of asceticism and pursuit of heaven in the afterlife. The Christian Church believes that it is immoral to enjoy life. In his book on pleasure as true happiness, Italian humanist Valla strongly refutes the fallacy of the Christian Church. He thinks that immoral pleasure does not exist. Thomas Moore, a thinker in the Renaissance of England, put forward in his utopian socialist work utopia that the greatest nature of life is to enjoy the happiness of life on earth. This kind of thought of human beings completely conforms to the laws of reason and nature. He believes that people’s enjoyment is the most noble enjoyment and the happiest. ‘Therefore, Utopians believe that happiness and happiness should be the ultimate goal of all our actions.’ ‘Utopian people attach great importance to spiritual happiness, which is the main and fundamental. However, the utopian people should be grateful for the kindness of nature’s loving mother to enjoy this happiness. ‘ Bhagachus said monks preached so-called ‘going to heaven’ in effect asking people to fill their pockets. Erasmus pointed out that the purpose of abstinence preaching is to ‘try to keep others away from carnal pleasure, for the sake of enjoying themselves more happily’. ‘I am mortal, and I only ask for the happiness of mortals,’ said Petrac ‘Mortals should first care about the things on earth.’ Montaigne believes that the one who can really enjoy his own life is a perfect and holy man. In the 16th century, humanists not only described and depicted people’s secular life in the form of literature and drama, but also reflected it through painting art and sculpture art, thus creating plastic arts. Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa depicts a young woman who is full of flesh and blood, indulges in the beautiful life and is happy and beautiful smiling, she is in great contrast to the empty, stiff and cold statue of the Virgin Mary. She immersed in the reality of the beautiful life, enjoying a happy and sweet life. The virgin is no longer good at painting the virgin’s face, but the merciless face of the virgin is no longer like the lifeless one. The image of the Virgin Mary in his masterpiece, the Virgin Mary of Sistine, fully shows the loving and loving look of the human mother. Their pens and swords announce the discovery of human beings by humanists, and arouse people to re-examine and understand people. These works with fresh life unfold a lively and colorful life to the secular world, declaring that people have feelings, pursuits, strength, value and dignity. In a word, humanists deny asceticism with hedonism, and think that happiness is perceptual happiness in this world, which is real rather than illusory. This realistic view of happiness reflects the great enthusiasm of the new bourgeoisie to actively participate in the real struggle, transform the society and strive for happiness. Third, humanists advocate science and reason, and oppose obscurantism and mysticism. With their fearless spirit, they challenged the ‘supreme’ theological authority. The theory of earth center is a traditional theory vigorously promoted by Christianity. It is beyond doubt that anyone who disagrees with this will be in great breach of the law and will be tried and punished by the inquisition.

The great historical significance of humanism lies in that it promotes the transition from God centered to human centered in Europe, lies in the awakening of human beings, and in the shift of emphasis from the afterlife to the present. It awakens people’s enterprising spirit, creative spirit and scientific spirit, thus opening up the way for the establishment of capitalist system in spirit. Humanism later became the internal component of Western cultural spirit and penetrated into western social and cultural life. The giants of the Renaissance discovered the greatness of man and man. While affirming the value and creativity of man, they proposed that personality should be free if man wants to be liberated. This requires giving full play to people’s intelligence and creative potential, opposing negative attitude towards life and advocating positive spirit of adventure. They gradually got rid of the bondage of asceticism and asceticism prevailing in the middle ages, and actively pursued the happiness of the world and the development of their personalities. In the same way, humanists sprouted an irresistible thirst for knowledge, that is, the optimistic and enterprising spirit of striving for the happiness of the present world, which liberated people from the shackles of Christian theology in the middle ages, promoted people to be positive and enterprising, and stimulated their personal talents to the maximum extent.

It is under the guidance of this spirit that the bourgeoisie created the modern capitalist world. The geographical discovery around 1500 is the external manifestation of this humanistic spirit. Italy is the birthplace of the Renaissance. Columbus and Capote, the protagonists of the great geographical discovery, are both Italians. They started their geographical exploration under the inspiration of humanism. In spite of the difficulties and obstacles, Columbus devoted himself to the dangerous and arduous adventure, which showed that he was full of optimism and enterprising spirit. The driving force that drove him to cross the ocean and trek was his strong desire to find gold, and also to pursue a happy life in this world. Looking for the way to the East in the west is based on the scientific belief that the earth is round, which also shows that he has the spirit of scientific experiment and exploration. It can be said that the ‘great geographical discovery’ was a by-product of the Renaissance movement. Of course, there are a series of other factors and conditions for the emergence of the ‘great geographical discovery’, but there is no doubt that the ‘great geographical discovery’ is consistent with the spirit of the times of the Renaissance. In the way of thinking, humanism advocates science and rationality, opposes obscurantism and mysticism, and breaks the shackles of medieval theology and other external authorities on thought. It not only abandons the vision of God, but also observes man, society and nature with his own eyes. Da Vinci said: ‘who depends on the authority of citation to debate, he is not using reason, is only acting on memory.’ He advocated to use his own reason and mind to judge things, instead of following others’ opinions and without thinking. He regarded the so-called divine conclusion as the absolute authority beyond everything. This cleared up the obstacles for the future ideological progress, and since then, natural science has made great strides forward. From Copernicus to Newton, the development of natural science made God’s foothold increasingly narrow. ‘Chapels are declining, laboratories are thriving.’ Human beings began to challenge nature, theology and human beings themselves.

The Renaissance also broke the situation that religious mysticism dominated the country, effectively promoted and influenced the religious reform movement, and provided a strong impetus for this movement. This can be seen in Luther’s thought. Luther believed that man was more important than monarch. ‘I am a man, and the title is higher than the monarch. The reason is: God did not create a monarch, God only created people to make me a man. ‘ From celibacy to marriage, he attached importance to human value and worldly enjoyment. This shows that he was strongly influenced by the Renaissance. The humanists in the Renaissance satirized and exposed the corruption and ugliness of the Catholic Church through literature and art. Erasmus’s ‘Julius is rejected’ and ‘Ode to the fool’ are such works, which provide a cannon ball for Luther to attack Catholicism. The Renaissance had an impact on the formation of new doctrines. Erasmus edited the new Greek Bible, which helped to restore the distorted and masked true doctrine of Christ. His work also paved the way for Martin Luther to formulate new doctrines. Erasmus once said, half jokingly, that he laid the egg first, and then Luther used it to incubate chickens. The above examples fully show that the Renaissance had a great impact on religious reform. Although the artists, literati and scholars in this period vigorously expressed and carried forward the spirit of humanism and exposed the corruption and ugliness of the Catholic Church and the Pope, due to the limitations of their times, they were still willing to accept the protection of the Pope and the church, and had a peaceful attitude towards the power of the church All the thinkers mentioned the thought of democratic politics and demanded democracy and freedom. However, their ideological emancipation degree was not enough, their revolutionary struggle will was not firm, and their theory of democratic politics also had the characteristics of early immaturity. Even so, the pioneering role of the Renaissance in breaking through the shackles of feudalism is irreplaceable by any movement. Under the encouragement of the thought of taking individual as the starting point, people try their best to pursue the development of personality, make great efforts to develop their talents and pursue the happiness of the world. However, in the process of pursuing, people’s selfishness is fully revealed, which promotes the expansion of extreme individualism. Buckhardt once lamented: in Italy at that time, ‘how many people, if they can’t be immortal with their great achievements, try to remain infamous with their bad morals and bad deeds’! Nevertheless, the influence of humanism on human history in this period is still very profound.

Humanism broke through the shackles of the feudal Church in the Renaissance, and the society produced many masterpieces of culture and art under the influence of this thought. Humanism also played an important role in educational reform, excavation and collation of ancient books, which laid the foundation for modern European education and humanities research. As humanism advocates attaching importance to reality and free thinking, it also provides ideological weapons for the two great historical movements of the Renaissance, namely, religious reform and the rise of natural science.