The Renaissance

The end of the Medieval period was a time of confusion, plague, and general chaos. But when European scholars experienced a rebirth of ancient Greek and Roman learning, the continent took a leap forward. The Renaissance was a time of cultural, technological, medical and scientific booms. This time in human civilization was truly one to call a revolution, shaping what we know today and giving us a starting point on all advancements that were to come soon after, as the Renaissance cause a large increase in scientific interest, and began the skepticism of religion.

Coming into this time period, there was a break with religion in the minds of its followers. As scholars began researching old theories, Michel de Montaigne reintroduced skepticism, or always questioning what is happening around you. He also introduced the theory of materialist philosophy, which is the idea that the world is not only spirit like the church teaches, but is also material objects. The rebirth of Greek and Roman literature started a boom in scientific innovation, and is where you can find the ideas of philosophers and scientists being questioned by religion, such as previous events with Socrates. Socrates was put on trial and forced to commit self-suicide because the leaders of faith during his time felt threatened by his constant questioning of the religious beliefs, and his attempt to enlighten his students with his thoughts.

This was a time of brilliant minds, most notably Leonardo da Vinci. Very well known in our time, and seen as one of the men to bring humans their greatest achievements in earlier times, he was what one would call a Renaissance man. A Renaissance man, or homo universalis, was one who had perfected all ideals of humanity. This would include knowing various languages, ability to write poetry, have a distinct knowledge of science, the ability to dance, it was someone who was able to fit into every category of the Renaissance ideal. Because knowledge was so limited at this point, it was not as hard as it would be today.

Vinci is a man worth mention for all he had brought us, even though he is sometimes apposed by controversy such a using ideas based off Chinese. He brought upon many scientific and medical advancements. One of which, popular especially for it’s detail, is the Vitruvian man, which was an illustration by Vinci of human proportion theories that were developed by the Roman architect Vitruvian in the first century. Vinci also had an idea that would be seen as crazy in this time, and those were his drawings of what would be some of the first attempts at a flying machine. His attempts at human dissection gave us a starting point in proper surgery, and his drawings of human anatomy were needed in keeping record of muscle and bone structure. Seeing as this was a time of great artistic expansion, Vincis invention of linear perspective gave way to more intriguing paintings with 3D look, such as the world famous Mona lisa.