Humanity has always been evolving, accepting the variety of thoughts and beliefs and allowing for the development of people’s worldview and creative endeavors. What has been considered exemplary in previous historical periods, might be found absolutely redundant in the present. Still, people have always borrowed some features from the past: if not to use them, then at least to analyze their inconsistency at present. The present paper is aimed at comparing the features of the society during the Early Renaissance and in contemporary Europe.
The development of public relations over time has led to the fact that the ideas relevant in the Middle Ages have changed to a certain extent. Therefore, their reflection is regarded as quite superficial in modern society.
Alterations happened not only in cultural but also in social life. While Renaissance was characterized by being oriented to the person, the current system of conducting political and ideological courses in modern European countries is the confirmation. The norms of morality and cultural values that were glorified in the era of universal enlightenment have changed by today. In modern society, trade and market relations have come to the place of the ideas of humanism, and the status of a person as a supreme being has changed beyond recognition.
Forms of Worldview: Then and Now
The orientation toward the man primarily characterizes the Renaissance, the philosophical thinking of this period being the anthropocentric one. The major figure in this period is not God but the human being. According to Houston (2014), during the Renaissance, the idea that people learn more when speaking to God fades into the background. A typical feature of the world outlook of people in that period is its articulate humanistic character.
The man appears as a free being, the creator of himself and the world around him. The thinkers of the era, however, were not atheists or materialists. They believed in God, they recognized him as the pioneer of the world and the man. According to their views, God, having created the world and people, gave everybody freedom, and now they had to determine their destiny by themselves. While analyzing the Renaissance worldview, Celenza (2014) mentions that the prominent people of the period can be understood only through the prism of the most famous events, and misrepresentation of information related to historical events complicates studying the ideas of Renaissance.
Therefore, the author concludes that a number of dissimilar views of researchers make the presence of the primary philosophical idea of Renaissance less credible. Another significant aspect of understanding the Renaissance beliefs is the language used by the community in that period (Murray, 2014). According to research, there is a strong connection between philosophy and linguistics. For instance, Murray (2014) remarks that the language of the people living in the Renaissance Italy outlines their understanding of the political life in the country. Since language is often used as a starting point for political changes, such opinion seems rather reasonable.
However different the Renaissance and contemporary worldviews are, Witoszek (2014) emphasizes that the former has given the latter the crucial foundations for development. According to the author, modern civilization’ tendency towards eco-humanism originated back in the Renaissance (Witoszek, 2014). Therefore, Witoszek (2014) concludes that the representations of Renaissance humanism need to be revalued for a better analysis of the “value platform” that asserts nature’s autonomy and person’s dignity (p. 122).
Still, in spite of this dependence on the past, modern society is quite different in its attitudes towards the worldview. Nowadays, a rational thought occupies the major place, and the previous picture of the world does not fit in any way. The idea of humanism has been almost entirely removed by the technological progress and the change of technical resources. In contemporary Europe, the dominant position belongs to the pursuit of respect for human rights and belief in science.
European countries’ democratic stability is not similar to the one that prevailed in the Renaissance. As Seigel (2015) remarks, people no longer believe that death is salvation and not the destruction. In present-day Europe, there is a crisis of the worldview that needs to be investigated with regard to the preceding periods of history, including the Renaissance (Zhdanov, Romanovskaya, & Tsyganov, 2015).
As a result of their analysis, Zhdanov et al. (2015) remark that the modern Europeans have lost faith in the objectivity of the law. Such state of things requires the people to encourage their personal “spiritual renaissance” (Zhdanov et al., 2015, p. 83). Therefore, although contemporary Europe differs greatly in its approaches to the worldview as compared to the Renaissance, it still employs some of the postulates of this historical period to explain people’s opinions.
Over the centuries, the norms of worldview have changed in a rather significant way. The probable reason for such changes is not only in the shift of interests and preferences but also in a rapid development of scientific thought. For modern Europeans, it seems quite unreasonable to turn to the early ideas for help when practically unlimited opportunities are available for the people and give them the right to determine the lives in an independent way.
In spite of the fact that people living in contemporary Europe remember and appreciate the achievements made in the Renaissance, the path of contemporary development suggesting diverse options has left practically nothing of the past beliefs.
Comparison of Creative Activity
In the Renaissance, creative activity acquired a sacral nature. During that time, people not only satisfied their natural needs but also created a new world and worked on personal development. The art in the Renaissance reached unprecedented heyday due to the economic upsurge, with a massive shift that occurred in the minds of people who turned to the cult of earthly life and beauty. As Goodey (2013) claims, the Renaissance art in many ways represents a contrast to the medieval times, some of its ideas being relevant today.
The Renaissance art marks the emergence of realism that determined the development of European artistic culture. Thus, it is possible to assume that the impact of Renaissance on the contemporary European art has been much stronger than on the forms of worldview. Probably the most vivid aspect of contemporary European art is its indeterminacy. In the world of art, as well as in other spheres of human interaction, the effect of globalization is increasingly observed.
According to Houston (2014), every form of art during the Renaissance was created because it presented some usefulness. The spheres of art present in contemporary Europe reflect the economic and political peculiarities that presuppose some influence of the new ways of thinking. Unlike Renaissance art that was aimed at calling to admiration for beauty, modern styles of painting, sculpture, and music increasingly convey the moods of masses and implore certain conclusions and thoughts, seek to impact people’s thinking, and stimulate particular actions.
Another way in which modern art differs from the Renaissance art is the tendency to rationalization and project development (Jensen, Thuesen, & Geraldi, 2016). Although the idea of transforming the art from a closed space to the open universe was borrowed from the Renaissance, modern people seem to be more focused on controlling space and time (Jensen et al., 2016). Thus, the communities in the developed European countries are called “project societies” (Jensen et al., 2016, p. 32).
Such definition is associated with the fact that rational thinking has taken the place of creative thinking. However, it is not possible to say that the contemporary Europeans do not know how to value art. People still admire beauty, but their rational views make them consider some piece previously considered the peak of popularity as irrelevant and unconventional.
The Influence of Renaissance on Modern Culture and Society
In general, the Renaissance was the time of significant intellectual growth. The word “Renaissance” is translated from French as “rebirth”. Indeed, this new era began at the end of the fourteenth century after the Black Death exterminated half of Europe’s population. In the period of Renaissance, a revolution in mathematics, science, and philosophy completely changed culture and arts in Europe (Burke, 2013).
Before the Renaissance, in the period of the Middle Ages, people had to devote their lives to the church and God. The rise of humanism eliminated such a state of affairs. Renaissance humanists refused from the medieval traditions and began focusing on personal interests rather than on religious demands. Humanists highlighted the significance of worldly pleasures and examined classic texts of such philosophers like Aristotle and Plato searching for inspiration. An increased interest in the pursuit of knowledge and traveling appeared along with humanism. Renaissance scientists, artists, writers, and other thinkers were inspired by the beliefs of such humanists as Francis Bacon, Sir Thomas More, Giovanni Boccaccio, and so on (Brown, 2014).
During the Renaissance, an extremely important means of spreading knowledge was created. In around 1440, a German whose name was Johannes Gutenberg created the printing press, and with it, the society became increasingly informed. Before the Renaissance, texts were written by hand, and education was available only to wealthy people who could afford this luxury. Suddenly, the middle-class people got the possibility to receive a proper education. It became easier for the scientists to share their work that leads to more accurate and faster discoveries. Thus, due to the printing press, new discoveries and ideas spread very quickly throughout Europe, and a completely new education reform was introduced (Brown, 2014).
The Renaissance’s contribution to the arts is overwhelmingly significant. Such famous artists of that period as Michelangelo, Titian, and Leonardo da Vinci painted intimate parts of a human body in detail with reference to classic, instead of focusing on iconography, and images of religious figures. Due to the new knowledge on anatomy, the painters in that period tried to create perfect body proportions and emotions. The pictures of naked people became very popular, and in order to make them look real, they focused primarily on depth and texture (Burke, 2013).
The reliance on observation is another important aspect of Renaissance. A divide between religion and science considerably increased, which resulted in a new era of discovery in Europe. Thus, scientists began to actively use the method of practical observation and stopped relying on religious teachings, as they perceived them with great skepticism. Francis Bacon and other his contemporaries mastered the scientific method promoting the examination of theories based on solid evidence. Dissection of human bodies allowed the scientists to better understand the human anatomy. In addition, Galileo Galilei is sometimes regarded as he was the father of modern science, as he argued against the belief of the Catholic Church that Earth is in the center of the universe (Burke, 2013).
Modern Period as the New Renaissance
Indeed, there are certain similarities the societies and the state of mind between the modern period and Renaissance. Renaissance culture was focused primarily on the past. At the beginning of Renaissance, virtually every book that was printed was either Roman or Greek classics or limitations of or commentaries on Roman and Greek classics. Only when the public became tired of these themes, the printers began searching for completely new types of books that were called “novels” to highlight their newness. Renaissance was also the time of investment in all art forms and its overall appreciation, in all the social classes. Thus, the influential and wealthy were trying to distinguish themselves and show that they were patrons of the arts (Misa, 2013).
Similar to Renaissance, now is the era of the so-called Internet Renaissance, as original art works and new art forms appear almost every day. The Internet Renaissance is easy to miss, as too many new pieces of art appear every day and it is impossible to study all of them. However, in contrast to the Renaissance, in the creation of which only the elites of society participated, while the lower classes of society were mere observers of the art being created, in the Internet Renaissance everybody participates.
There are much fewer passive observers on the Internet, as it allows everybody to express themselves and to share with others. According to the statistics, several quadrillion words are typed on the Internet every year. That also means that every day people create more content on the Internet than in all the human history before 2003 (Misa, 2013).
However, there are disadvantages of the Internet Renaissance. For example, more than a half of the Internet content can hardly be referred to as a true art. Additionally, the Italian Renaissance concerned not only the arts but also trade, science, technology, and commerce. The Internet Renaissance does the same but on a far larger scale, as now, almost every day a new discovery appears (Misa, 2013).
Conclusion
It is evident that the norms of morality and cultural values that were glorified in the era of Renaissance have undergone many changes by today. The idea of praising the soul of a person is no longer relevant, having been replaced by more pressing issues. It is not possible to decide which of the two discussed periods’ postulates are more beneficial for the people, each of them having some important ideas. Most probably, it is the time and environment in which a person is right now that determines the views and beliefs. What was considered crucial during the Renaissance may have lost its significance in the contemporary worldview. Still, the impact of that epoch may be traced in various spheres of modern people’s lives.
References
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Burke, P. (2013). The Italian Renaissance: culture and society in Italy. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
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Goodey, C. F. (2011). A History of intelligence and “intellectual disability”: The shaping of psychology in Early Modern Europe. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate.
Houston, C. (2014). The Renaissance utopia: Dialogue, travel and the ideal society. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate.
Jensen, A., Thuesen, C., & Geraldi, J. (2016). The projectification of everything: Projects as a human condition. Project Management Journal, 47(3), 21-34.
Misa, T. J. (2013). Leonardo to the Internet: Technology and culture from the renaissance to the present. Baltimore, MD: JHU Press.
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Seigel, J. E. (2015). Rhetoric and Philosophy in Renaissance Humanism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Witoszek, N. (2014). Leonardo da Vinci our contemporary? Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology, 18(2), 122-143.
Zhdanov, P. S., Romanovskaya, V. B., & Tsyganov, V. I. (2015). Legal reflection during the crisis of the new European worldview paradigm: Problem statement. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 6(3 S5), 79.