The vivid founder of Humanism Dante Alighieri celebrated man in the harmony of his both divine and earthly nature.
He believed man to be double determined: by God through his belief and by nature through his reason Dante did not contradict these aspects of man, rather he insisted on their combination and unity. They both determined man’s way to blessings. Man himself is responsible for his happiness.
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
Petrarca (Petrarch) (1304-1374) proclaimed quite new ideas contradictory to scholasticism:
Petrarca (Petrarch) (1304-1374) proclaimed quite new ideas contradictory to scholasticism:
uniqueness of human life - man should live for himself but not for God.
freedom, both physical and spiritual, for his self-manifestation.
man’s responsibility for his own happiness.
Man is beautiful both in his appearance and in spirituality.
He should be happy and not to sacrifice himself to God.
He did not insist on after death life.
Immortality could be achieved only in people’s memory.
Lorenzo Valla (1507-1557). subverted the Church authority, criticized scholasticism for its untruthfulness, and artificial character.
Lorenzo Valla (1507-1557). subverted the Church authority, criticized scholasticism for its untruthfulness, and artificial character.
He challenged activeness in altering the world, equality of man and woman; he supposed that the highest blessing and enjoyment was to satisfy people’s moral and material needs.
Neo-Platonism
They suggested a new picture of the world which was less dependent on God, but the importance of the universals was stressed.
They regarded man as an independent microcosm though they did not deny his divine nature.
They aimed to work out an integral philosophical system which could combine all the existent philosophies.
An idealistic philosophy which aimed at the development of Plato’s teaching with its further systematization and elimination of contradictions.
