The Renaissance marked the rebirth of the people’s intellectual consciousness. During this time, man was inclined towards thinking. The age of the Renaissance was particularly known for its philosophies and ideas, rather than its technological, scientific, or mechanical breakthroughs. This is evident through the emergence of the great thinkers such as Machiavelli, Erasmus, Descartes, etc.

Aristotle described man as a rational and a political animal. Being above the other animals, he is a key player in history. Man being a rational being signifies that he possesses intellect and will, which go along with his acquired nature since birth. It is innate for man to have the faculty to continually seek for knowledge and improve himself and his environment. However, as man becomes overwhelmed by the knowledge that he acquires, he has the tendency to be corrupted, as the saying goes, too much of something is bad. This excessive and unending quest for knowledge may lead him to his own downfall. Attainment of wisdom became the main concern of the people. They did not find fulfillment in filling their nation with skyscrapers, nor in hastening the invention of modern machineries. Instead, they devoted their lives in seeking for more and more knowledge. Renaissance thinkers depict man as rational and ethical being who tends to become consumed by his quest for wisdom and perfection, leading him to lose himself and make him no different from the brutes, which he is supposed to be above of.

The great Erasmus in his work “The Praise of Folly” describes how man is blinded by the apparent good – wisdom.

..In this way, studies crept in with the other trials of life, for the hurt of mankind. Instead of promoting man’s happiness, they hinder it. This is shown by their name: “daemons,” which means “those who know..” (Erasmus 932)

As philosophy teaches, man’s actions are controlled by two abilities or powers: emotion and reason. “Indeed a fool and a wise man are distinguished by the fact that emotions control the former, and reason the latter.” (Erasmus 929) During the Renaissance, the “wise” claimed emotions belong only to those who are foolish, while what should really control mankind was reason. Erasmus contradicted this by saying that “true wisdom” which the “wise” claim to be the secret to happiness can never be acquired. Instead, it is the emotion that serves as a guide and a teacher to those who seek wisdom, for it is a stimulus to virtues and good deeds. (Erasmus 929) Consequently, if the “wise man” is to be stripped of all his emotions, he then becomes nothing but an imitation of man.

“And this animal is the perfect wise man.” (Erasmus 930)

Erasmus describes the Renaissance’s ideal “wise man” as boring and lacks life.

In line with this, Erasmus declared, “nothing can be unhappy if it expresses its true nature”. (931) He explained this by means of taking an old man and an old woman as examples. The former, according to him, covers up his bald head and toothless mouth; while the latter paint their faces just to be able to obtain younger partners. Erasmus claims that this is happiness for them since they satisfy their own selves, unmindful of what the world has to say. These aforementioned characters set aside pretenses and enjoy their respective lives. (Erasmus 931) This is contrary to what Erasmus described as the “play of life”, wherein he saw life as a huge stage play “…through which men pass in various disguises, each going on to play his part until he is led off by the director?” (Erasmus 928) In here, everything is pretense. In this scenario, Erasmus warns that it is hard to tell whether the god or ruler is truly a man, for he tends to act sheeplike by his own passions.

“Isn’t it true that the happiest creatures are those which are least artificial and most natural?” (Erasmus 933)

It is man’s corrupted nature that leads him to become a brute. They live their lives trying to be better than the others and reach much-desired excellence. Along the way, they engross themselves with self-flattery and apparent happiness. At the same time, they are preoccupied with the latest science discoveries, skills, and craft. All these are driven towards their aspiration for self-perfection. An end that they’d achieve by all means, even up to the extent of going against one another. “There are also a multitude of evils that man does to man.” (Erasmus 930) Such tendencies make the once rational being a part of the brutes.

Machiavelli in his famous work, “The Prince”, provides a sort-of instruction manual of how a prince is to gain and retain power.

Therefore it is necessary for a prince to understand how to avail himself of the beast and the man..

..so it is necessary for a prince to know how to make use of both natures, and that one without the other is not durable. A prince, therefore, being compelled knowingly to adopt the beast, ought to choose the fox and the lion.. (Machiavelli 25)

According to Machiavelli, instead of having faith and integrity, a leader would prove to be effective by means of his intellect of the “craft”, by law or by force. This craft is better described as the art of war, which Machiavelli deems as necessary in every rule. To gain power by force is “proper to beasts.” (Machiavelli 25)

By the use of arms in what he called as the art of war, the prince and his army goes against the army of their enemy land in order to reach his end, his ultimate goal – power, glory and wealth. These serve as apparent happiness for the prince and the means that he is to achieve it goes against what a rational being is called to do. Machiavelli supposed that in attaining his goals, the prince must not mind the shame of cruelty. Such actions make a brute out of him. (Machiavelli 21)

Montaigne is well known because of his Skepticism during his time. Being a skeptic, he doubted the ability of the mind to know. According to him, as man gains more knowledge, the more enlightened he thinks he is. Montaigne’s work, “On Coaches” describes how falsely man is led by what he believes is true. Particularly, man lives only to what he discovers at present, instead of exploring how it was in the past. Additionally, Montaigne described the man during the ancient world as ”all naked, simply pure, in nature’s lap, and lived only upon such means and food as his mother-nurse afforded him.” (Montaigne 158) This man from the infancy stage that he described is free from corruption brought about by latter day knowledge and crafts. Such developments gave man an unending desire for higher learning that leads him to continually seek for more knowledge.

Going back to Petrarch’s writing, ignorance is bliss, and those with less complications in life can truly enjoy it more.

“..so those people are happiest who have nothing to do with learning and follow nature as their only guide.. except as a man wishes to go beyond what is proper for him.”

Petrarch further compared animals to man, the former “are content with their natural limitations; man alone is vainly very ambitious.”

Similarly, he described how the ancient man lived.

“The people of the golden age lived without the advantages of learning, being guided by instinct and nature alone.” (Erasmus 932)

The pursuit for knowledge is good for as long as it is aimed towards the good. However, when it harms mankind in such a way that it hinders them from living their lives to the fullest, then as Petrarch put it, they become marble figures. Moreover, if man alone is to confine himself within the walls of learning, he deprives himself of truly experiencing how it is to be man.

“A model of wisdom.. dissipated the best part of his life in continual worry and study.. he has never lived..” (Erasmus 935)

By reading the works of the era’s finest writers, during the Renaissance, man seemed to be too absorbed with wisdom, thinking that this alone could furnish them with happiness, unknowing that it was only the apparent good. This means that it only appears good to them while it eventually harms themselves and the people around them. In some circumstances, they are blind to what is truly true for they drown themselves in what they want to believe in. For instance, Machiavelli’s “The Prince” becomes obsessed with gaining and retaining power that he resorts to war (murder), setting aside what was called for by his true nature – faith and integrity. By doing otherwise, he lowers himself to become a brute. No matter how wealthy, powerful or glorious he is in his eyes, he is perceived as a beast by the world.