Comparison of the Renaissance and Enlightenment (Сравнение Ренессанса и Просвещения)
Renaissance means ‘rebirth’ or ‘recovery’, has its
origins in Italy and is associated with the rebirth of antiquity or Greco-Roman
civilization. The age of the Renaissance is believed to elapse over a period of
about two centuries, approximately from 1350 to 1550. Above all, the
Renaissance was a recovery from the Middle Ages and all the disasters
associated with it: the Black Death, economic, political and social crises. For
the intellectuals, it was a period of recovery from the “Dark Ages”; a period, which
was called so due to its lack of classical culture.
First Italian and then intellectuals of the rest of
Europe became increasingly interested in the Greco-Roman culture of the ancient
Mediterranean world. This interest was fostered especially by the migration of
the Greek intellectuals during the Middle Ages and the fact that the ancient
Greek works could then be translated more precisely into Latin. Increasing
popularity of archeology and discovery of ancient Roman and Greek constructions
also participated in this intense interest for the classical culture.
But the Renaissance was not exclusively associated
with the revival of classical antiquity. It is believed that precisely from the
fifteenth century great changes took place affecting public and social spheres
of Europe and then the rest of the world; the basis of the modern European
civilization and capitalist system were then founded. Technological innovations
increased the rates of economic development. Great geographical discoveries
opened up the boarders of the Western world, thus accelerating the formation of
national, European and world markets. Major changes in art, music, literature
and religion wrecked the system of medieval values.
Another period marked by significant changes, is the
eighteenth century or an age of Enlightenment. Although present throughout
Europe, the origins of the Enlightenment are closely associated with France and
its philosophers such as Voltaire, Rousseau and others. The Enlightenment has
been fostered by the remarkable discoveries of the Scientific Revolution of the
seventeenth century. It was during this period that the ideas of the Scientific
Revolution were spread and popularized by the philosophers (intellectuals of
the 18th century).
Reason – was the word used
the most frequently during the Enlightenment; it meant a scientific method,
which appealed to facts and experiences. It was the age of the reexamination of
all aspects of life, a movement of the intellectuals “who dared to know” and
who were arguing for the application of the scientific methods to the
understanding of all life. For these intellectuals it was also a recovery from
the ‘darkness’ since all that could not be tested and proved by the rational
and scientific methods of thinking was darkness. Blind trust and acceptance was
darkness, while reason, knowledge and examination – was the ‘light’ that would
lead to a progress and better society.
There are similarities that can with certainty be
traced between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Many of the
eighteenth-century philosophers saw themselves as the followers of the
philosophers of antiquity and the humanists of the Renaissance. To them, the
Middle Ages were also a period of intellectual darkness whereby the society was
dominated by the dogmatic Catholic Church, allowed faith to obscure and
diminished human reason. Secularization that first arose in the Renaissance
erupted with new strength and particular intensity during the Enlightenment.
Development of secular art, music, literature and way of thinking of the
Renaissance was followed and further spread by the philosophers of the
Enlightenment. Both, the Renaissance and the Enlightenment were primarily the
preserve of the wealthy upper classes who constituted a small percentage of the
population. Achievements of both, the Renaissance and the Enlightenment were
the product of the elite, rather than a mass movement. Gradually though, they
did have an irreversible impact on ordinary people. Another apparent similarity
between the two periods, of course, was the fact that both of them were marked
by great political and social changes. However, since evolution and progress
cause changes, and achievements of one century are built on those of the
previous one, there are probably more differences than similarities between the
two periods. Taking a look at different social and public spheres, we shall
examine the differences and the similarities between the Renaissance and the
Enlightenment.
Consider the intellectual areas of the two periods.
The Renaissance saw the emergence and growth of humanism. Humanism was a form
of education and culture based on the study of classics. Being primarily an
educational form, it included the study of such liberal arts subjects as
grammar, rhetoric, poetry, ethics and history that were based on the
examinations of classical authors. Humanists occupied mainly secular positions
such as teachers of humanities in secondary schools or professors of rhetoric
in universities; they were mostly laymen rather than members of clergy. Education
was central to the humanist movement since humanists believed that education
could change immensely the human beings. Humanists wrote books on education and
developed secondary schools based on their ideas. Their schools though, were
principally reserved for the wealthy elite; children from the lower social
classes as well as females were largely absent from them. During the
Enlightenment, as during the Renaissance, private secondary schools were most
of the times dominated by religious orders, especially by the Jesuits. However,
a great difference with the Renaissance was the development of new schools
designed to provide a broader education, which offered modern languages,
geography and bookkeeping, preparing students for careers in business.
In Renaissance philosophy a change was expressed
through an assimilation of Platonic philosophy into Christianity by means of
translation and interpretation. This led to the emergence of a new form of
philosophy known as Neoplatonism. Renaissance humanists saw a human occupying
central position in the great chain of being between the lowest form of
physical matter (plants) and the purest spirit (God). A human being was the
link between the material world (through the body) and the spiritual world
(through the soul). M. Ficino (1433-1499) was one of the most important
humanists that contributed to the emergence of the Neoplatonism. Concerning
religion, Renaissance philosophers were not rejecting Christianity, they mostly
believed in God and were only against the policies and practices of the
Catholic Church at that period.
The Enlightenment philosophers such as Voltaire
(1694-1778) or Diderot (1713-1784) went beyond Renaissance philosophers. They
severely criticized traditional religion and actively called for religious
toleration. Moreover, the Enlightenment philosophers, Voltaire in particular,
championed, among other things, deism. Deism was based upon Newtonian
world-machine, which implied the existence of a mechanic (God) who had created
the universe, but did not have direct involvement in it and allowed it to run
according to its own natural laws. These philosophers believed that God did not
extend grace or respond prayers. Diderot, who advocated similar ideas, made a
great contribution to the Enlightenment with creation of the famous
Encyclopedia (Classified Dictionary of Science, Arts and Trades), which
included works and ideas of many philosophers. Thanks to the Renaissance
printing and the reductions in the Encyclopedia price, Enlightenment ideas
became available to general literate public of the century.
One of the innovations in history during the
Renaissance was in the way history was recorded. In writing of history,
humanists divided the past into ancient world, dark ages and their own age,
thus providing a new sense of chronology. Humanists were also responsible for
secularization of history. By taking new approaches to historic sources,
humanist historians sensibly reduced the role of miracles in history.
Concerning history, the Enlightenment philosophers had a similarity with the
Renaissance humanist-historians in that they also placed their histories in
purely secular settings. However, the difference between the two was that if
Renaissance historians had de-emphasized the role of God and miracles, the
Enlightenment philosophers-historians, such as Voltaire, eliminated it
altogether. Also, philosophers-historians extended the scope of history over
the humanists’ preoccupation with politics by paying increasing attention to
economic, social, intellectual and cultural developments.
Among the most important technological innovations
of the renaissance was printing. J. Gutenberg played an important role in
bringing the process of printing to completion between 1445-1450. This process
was vital for the diffusion of knowledge and humanist ideas. Printing spread
very rapidly around Europe and its effects were soon felt in many areas of
European life. Continued after the invention of printing process, the expansion
of both, publishing and the reading public, became particularly visible during
the Enlightenment. Even though, as during the Renaissance, most of the
published works were aimed at small groups of educated elite, there appeared
more publications for the new reading public. This new reading public consisted
mainly of the middle classes and included women and urban artisans. An
important role in the increase of these publications played the development of
magazines for the general public and emergence of daily newspapers – an
innovation unknown to the Renaissance.
In art, Renaissance humanism and naturalism revealed
themselves through the exposition of the world of beauty and human body. Flat,
static paintings of the medieval art left their place to the three-dimensional,
salient and convexo-concave style of the Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci
(1452-1519), Michelangelo (1478-1564) and other great artists of the
Renaissance demonstrated in their works an ideal individual in whom the
physical beauty and that of the soul converged together according to the standards
of antique aesthetics. Renaissance artists considered the imitation of nature
of their primary goal, human beings became the focus of attention. To the great
discontent of the Church, themes of human nudity also became present in works
of the Renaissance artists. Likewise, a human being with his basic desires and
passions appeared in literature.
In the Enlightenment art,
the similarity with the Renaissance was that the Baroque style largely used in
Renaissance continued into the eighteenth century. Also, Neoclassicism
persisted to have a wide support. Neoclassicism was the revival of the
classical style of ancient Greece and Rome. Nonetheless, by 1730s, a new style
known as Rococo (a French innovation) began to gain great popularity. Unlike
the Baroque, which accentuated majesty and power through the use of grand
diagonals and games of light, Rococo emphasized grace and gentleness. This
style could be seen in the works of important artists of the eighteenth century
such as A. Watteau (1684-1721) and G. B. Tiepolo (1696-1770). In architecture,
a combination of the Baroque and Rococo gave rise to some of the most beautiful
architectural constructions such as Vierzehnheiligen church decorated by the
great architect B. Newmann (1687-1753).
A major change in music during the Renaissance was
the change in the composition for the mass. To replace Gregorian chants, the
Renaissance madrigal saw its emergence as a chief form of secular music in
Italy and France. Major changes also took place in the music of the Enlightenment
period. Eighteenth century saw the rise and increasing popularity of classical
music with its operas, orchestras, sonatas, concerts and symphonies. This
period gave the world such remarkable composers as J. S. Bach (1685-1750), G.
F. Handel (1685-1759) and, of course, W. A. Mozart (1756-1798). However, music
did not become completely secularized; Bach, for example, was still composing
religious music. Another similarity with the Renaissance age was that most of
the musicians still depended on a patron such as an aristocrat or prince.
As for medicine, certainly there were differences
concerning it between the two periods, since the two centuries that separated
them did bring some improvement into medical practices. The surgeons
experienced significant changes during the eighteenth century. In the 1740s
they started organizing their own guilds, separate from the barbers.
Furthermore, surgeons started to be licensed what required clinical
experiences. This had brought in some selection into the ranks of those
practicing surgery.
Technological innovations such as the rudder
facilitated the great geographical discoveries of the Renaissance. Here are
some of the most important discoveries: in 1456 Portuguese ships reached the
Green cape and in 1486 Africa has been sailed around from the south. While
familiarizing African coasts, Portuguese were sending their ships to the west
and southwest Open Ocean leading to the discovery of Assorian Islands and
Madeira Islands. In 1492 Columbus on his way to India crossed Atlantic Ocean
and embarked on Bahamas Islands thus discovering a new continent of America. In
1498 a Spanish traveler V. De Gama sailing around Africa brought his ships to
the Indian coasts. From XVI c. Europeans reach China and Japan of the existence
of which they have only had a vague image before.
The perception about the Earth’s shape has changed
as well; F. Magellan’s (1519-1522) trip around the world confirmed that the
Earth was round. As if the world boarders became wider; trade routes now passed
through the oceans, linking different continents between each other. Thus
commenced the first phase of the emergence of the world civilization and
globalization. During the Enlightenment this process accelerated even more with
the creation of new public and private banks, acceptance of paper money and
development of triangular trade. With colonization of Americas, India and
Africa, the term global economy was more than appropriate. Triangular
trade linked Europe, Africa, the East and the Americas, making eighteenth
century merchants and traders more and more wealthy and powerful.
Among the multiple discoveries of the Renaissance,
one was especially complicated and frightening. This was the Copernicus’
(1473-1543) heliocentric theory, which gave a new vision of the Universe, the
Earth and thus the human being. Before, the Earth was believed to be the center
of the world with other heavenly spheres rotating around it. Now, the Earth
became a tiny point in the emptiness of Space revolving about its axis and the
Sun in the center. The Enlightenment, on the other hand, did not know much of
the scientific discoveries, but it was the age when the scientific ideas of the
Scientific Revolution were popularized. Scientific ideas were not spread so
much by the scientists themselves, but by such individuals as B. de Fontenelle
(1657-1757). He was secretary of the French Royal Academy of Science
(1691-1741) and contributed a lot to the communication of the scientific
discoveries especially in astronomy.
Concerning politics, the Renaissance saw the
beginning of modern politics, whereby interests of the state are of the
principal consideration. Fundamental to politics were the works of an Italian
politician N. Machiavelli (1469-1527). In his famous work “The Prince”
he introduced political ideas that would have a great impact not only on the
rulers of that period, but on the political leaders centuries later. He
believed that morality was not among the top priorities in the political
activities of that time. Therefore, he maintained that if a ruler is to stay in
power, he should be prepared to do wrong when necessary. He continued that the
state’s main preoccupation was to provide stability and in order for a ruler to
rule efficiently, he should use diplomacy and be neither too loved, nor too
feared. Hence, the concept of the balance of power emerged as popular political
thought of the Renaissance. According to this concept, a country should not get
involved in a war with a neighboring country the leader of which is strong. It
is better to have a strong neighboring ruler with whom you can negotiate and
agree, rather than to create a chaos and thus uncertainty and danger.
Just like Machiavelli was a giant of political
thought in the Renaissance, Montesquieu (1689-1755) was for the Enlightenment,
though his propositions were much different from those of Machiavelli. In his
works he called for the separation of powers into legislative, executive and
judiciary, advocated religious toleration and denounced slavery. Another great
philosopher of the Enlightenment was J. J. Rousseau (1712-1778). In his work
“Discourse on the Origins of the Inequality of Mankind” he explained why the
government was “an evil, but a necessary one”. In his another very famous work
“The Social Contract” he tried to accord individual liberty with governmental
authority. All these political ideas were new and thus very different from the
political thoughts of the Renaissance.
In religion, clerical corruption, the popes’
preoccupation with secular matters such as finances and territorial power led
to the growing discontent with the Church during the Renaissance period. J.
Hus (1374-1415) and J. Wyclif (1328-1384) are viewed by many as the forerunners
of the Reformation. Both of them attacked the excessive power of the papacy
within Catholic Church and called for reforms. Although remaining a very
important institution, Catholic Church and its religious practices became
increasingly questioned and criticized by the Renaissance humanists. As during
the Renaissance age, Catholic Church of the Enlightenment still had a lot of
power and remained hierarchically structured. Religious devotion also remained
strong during the eighteenth century. Nonetheless, critics and skepticism
against the Church became more and more intense. Philosophers of the
Enlightenment were more than ever calling for religious toleration and
acceptance of religious minorities. Among the intellectuals of that period more
and more turned to deism and believed in natural laws.
The great majority of women of the Renaissance was
not educated and was not considered intellectually equal to men. There were
some exceptions of course, but, as such, women did not play any important role
in the intellectual life of the Renaissance. This has changed during the
Enlightenment. Some of the eighteenth century intellectuals, such as Diderot,
expressed more positive views of women. Moreover, women themselves begun to
emerge as important intellectual thinkers, questioning their rights and
proposing ways to improve their situation. M. Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was
regarded by many as the founder of modern European feminism. Another important
difference from the Renaissance concerning women, was their role in the spread
of new ideas of the Enlightenment. Of course, here we are talking again about
the women of the elite or wealthy upper class. By organizing salons, women such
as Madame Geoffrin (1699-1777) or Marquise du Duffand (1697-1780) brought
together writers and artists with aristocrats, government officials and other
members of literate elite. These women could affect political decisions and
influence literary and artistic tastes.
Completely different to the Renaissance was the
emergence in the eighteenth century of a “science of man” or social sciences.
Social sciences were based on the philosophers’ believes that certain human
actions were governed by natural laws. One of the pioneers of a social science
such as psychology was Scottish philosopher D. Hume (1711-1776). Other famous
philosophers such as A. Smith (1723-1790) and F. Quesnay (1694-1774) were
viewed as founders of the modern economics. They rejected mercantilist concepts
by arguing the economic primacy of agriculture. They also advocated the
doctrine of laissez-faire, which rejected the state’s intervention in the
economic activity and called for letting the natural forces of demand and
supply to work freely. In his famous “Wealth o Nations” Smith presents his
major ideas on the origins of wealth and functions of government in the
economy, thus laying down the foundations of the nineteenth century economic
liberalism.
As we could observe from the analysis above, the
Renaissance and Enlightenment indeed had a lot of differences, but they also
had a lot of similarities. And this could not be otherwise, because all of the
achievements and discoveries of the Renaissance became the building blocks of
the Enlightenment progress. Just as human beings are prone to progress, they
are also prone to traditions. That is why many of the Renaissance values
continued into the Enlightenment. Each period in history marks human society in
some way and even in our days we still hear the echo of previous centuries and
still find some similarities between our time and those far-away centuries.