Describe the four themes that characterized Renaissance humanism and give an example of each.
The term ‘humanism’ in renaissance era is the concept generally applied to social, intellectual and literary philosophies. The term can also be said as a belief about man that he has beauty, worth and dignity. It denotes an intense interest over man, as if he was discovering himself for the first time.
Development of humanism started at the beginning of 14th century and the reason for the development was less interest of people in thinking about God. Renaissance humanism focused on the human activities and its beauty. But the church believed that, to be concerned with one and one’s own right is arrogance.
There are four themes that characterized Renaissance Humanism and are given as follows:
Individualism: It emphasizes moral worth of the individual. It indicates the human potential achievement to make difference in the world. It holds that a person who takes part in social attempts learns and discovers by following his own interest rather than following the interest of social structure. This theme created a spirit of optimism and dictates that he needs not to be egoistic.
Example of individualism includes supporting oneself financially rather than depending on others to fulfill our own needs.
Personal Religion: Humanists in Renaissance era wanted religion to be more personal. Rather than imposing principles of religion over the people, there should be a personal experience of people on religion. Renaissance humanists supported personal religion and were against the traditional and organized religion imposed by church. Example of personal religion includes not exposing believe over god before the world.
Intense Interest in the past: Renaissance humanists loved to admire the past. They showed an intense interest in ancients and their words. They support the view points of the ancients, which supported their concept of life, for example, imitation and reproduction of Roman literary forms in the new learning
Anti-Aristotelianism: It is the reaction against the ways in which medieval interpretations of Aristotle were accepted by the church for centuries. According to the Renaissance humanists, Aristotle was only human like us and he was also capable of errors. They regret the rules, regulations and beliefs based on Aristotle’s philosophy. They believe that accepting Aristotle’s philosophy is not more important than one’s personal relation with God. Example would include the skeptic claim that we cannot know what the truth is.