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The Rebirth of the West

The Rebirth of the West. Jeffrey L. Richey, Ph.D. GSTR 221-A: Western Traditions II Berea College Spring 2005. Western Europe among the weakest, poorest societies on planet: Economic recession Epidemics Military inferiority Political disunity Religious conflict Technological mediocrity.

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The Rebirth of the West

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  1. The Rebirth of the West Jeffrey L. Richey, Ph.D. GSTR 221-A: Western Traditions II Berea College Spring 2005

  2. Western Europe among the weakest, poorest societies on planet: Economic recession Epidemics Military inferiority Political disunity Religious conflict Technological mediocrity Major world powers of this era: Mongol Empire, China-Poland Mamluk Empire, Middle East These powers limit Western Europeans’ overland access to Asian and African markets and trade routes THE WEST & THE WORLD, C. 1300-1400

  3. Europe, c. 1300

  4. Africa, Asia, & Europe, c. 1300

  5. PRELUDE TO THE RENAISSANCE • Latin heritage of West well-preserved, but Greek sources mostly lost or available only in Arabic translation • 1400s: population growth, rise of city-states, economic recovery, new exploration, development of metal movable type for printing • By 1500, over one thousand printers in business throughout Europe, with more than ten million copies of books sold • Renaissance = “rebirth” of Greco-Roman traditions among literate urban elites, c. 1350-1550 (especially in Italy)

  6. PETRUS PAULUS VERGERIUS (1370-1444) • Teaches in Italian universities of Florence, Bologna, and Padua • Writes first outline of Renaissance humanist curriculum as memorandum to the son of Padua’s lord, c. 1400 • Builds on medieval trivium (grammar, rhetoric, logic) and quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy) • Incorporates newer disciplines of ethics, history, and literature to form “liberal” program of study for elite urban males – a program “worthy of a free man”

  7. GIOVANNI PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA (1463-1494) • Most famous Renaissance philosopher • Studies at Platonic Academy in Florence, Italy, as well as universities of Ferrara, Bologna, Padua, and Paris • Regards all philosophical and religious traditions as containing “nuggets of universal truth” revealed by God • Strongly influenced by Jewish and occult traditions as well as Christianity • His work declared heretical by Pope Innocent VIII in 1486

  8. RENAISSANCE THEMES • Optimism regarding human worth and potential • Revival of classical Greco-Roman values: • Humanism -- Is there anything more wonderful on earth, our marvelous planet, than the miracle of man? (Sophocles) • Naturalism – The chief good is life according to nature. (Zeno of Citium) • Skepticism -- The unexamined life is not worth living. (Socrates) • Ideal: l’uomo universale (“universal man”) = • Maximizes human potential • Models himself on nature • Subjects all to critical inquiry

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