The middle ages, though not as dull as popularly believed, were not as productive as the era they preceded.  As the middle ages ended, trade, travel, and literacy increased, causing the rise of the intellectual movement known as scholasticism.  Scholasticism, though a great improvement over middle age thought, still lacked an essential element. That element was included in the humanism movement that followed.  Humanism differed from its predecessor in a number of ways, the most important being its emphasis on liberty and freedom.  Because of its focus on the freedom and dignity of man, humanism grew to replace scholasticism and form the foundation of Western Civilization.

This is not to say that scholasticism had no impact.  Rather, had it not been for this movement it is entirely possible that humanism would never have come about.  Scholasticism traces its roots back to 960 A.D. when Gerbert of Aurillac brought commentaries on Aristotle to Western Europe.  These commentaries, written in Latin by the likes of Plotinus and Boethius, were soaked up by Western Europe, as they meshed well with the teachings of the Church, whose power had increased exponentially over the previous centuries.  As literacy rates continued to rise, Aristotelian thought - particularly the logical method known as the dialectic - grew in popularity and acceptance.

Scholasticism was again given a boost in 1075 with the rediscovery of Justinian's Code in an Italian monastery basement.  The West regained the four books of Roman law and with it an appreciation for ancient intelligence.  Western readers also gained access to the writings of the great Latinist Cicero, who as a Roman lawyer had authored parts of the law.  For the newly forming class of scholars, it was an exciting time to be alive.

But those same scholars found reason to be discontent.  Despite its recent gains, the West still lacked actual writings of Aristotle, whose popularity (among the literate) was second only to Jesus and the Pope.  Hoping to better the situation, scholars journeyed to the Middle East during the Crusades in search of Aristotle's books.  Copies of Aristotle's work were warmly received by the West until 1235 when William of Morebecke returned from the East carrying Aristotle's De Anima.

In the De Anima Aristotle expresses his belief in the mortality of the human soul in stark contrast to the accepted Christian theology of the time.  Unable to reconcile the two views and pledging allegiance to the Church, Western scholars dropped Aristotle.  Simultaneously, Westerners were growing bored with the tired Latin employed by many of the ancients.  Searching for a replacement scholar and an admirable writer, the knowledgeable once again looked to the past.

St. Augustine, a 5th century scholar-turned-Christian, was familiar with the writings of both Aristotle and his mentor Plato.  In works like his City of God, Augustine expresses his admiration of the latter.  Cicero, whose works were now being appreciated not merely for their excellent Latin but for content as well, had also been an avid reader of Plato.  13th century scholars were mindful of this and soon enough Plato had taken Aristotle's place in the minds of early Renaissance scholars.

The rise of Plato was not merely a change in scholasticism; it was the end of it.  As centuries of writers had noted, Plato's was an entirely different, even opposite, epistemology than his famous student's.  Plato satisfied the immediate need of the time by asserting the immortality of the human soul, but continued on to claim that the human soul was all-knowing.  Prior to birth, Plato said, the soul existed on a "Plane of Reality" that contained the "essence," or fundamental knowledge, of all things.  For humans, recall of these essences is blocked by interference from the body and the five senses.  Humans, he wrote, could best retrieve this information by searching within themselves for the "synderesis," or spark, that many at the time of the Renaissance interpreted as God.  Lastly, Plato believed that after death, the immortal soul returned to the Plane of Reality.

Plato's was a very hopeful philosophy.  Scholasticism was not.  Scholasticism was closely in line with the Church, and the Church taught that man was inherently evil.  Conceived in sin, man must lead a life of repentance and accept God into that life, or so went the dominant thought.  Plato, however, said the opposite.  Possessor of all knowledge, man must only look within himself to find the synderesis/God.  And, since all people were once occupants of the Plane of Reality, all people had opportunity to find their spark.

So was born humanism.  More than just a belief in the potential of man, humanism was an attempt to realize that potential.  For this reason, humanist studies in the Renaissance included grammar, poetry, rhetoric, history, and of course, moral philosophy.  Working from the late 1200's through the 1600's, humanist scholars and students sought to better understand the world, God, the universe, and the ancients whose work had been the starting point of this journey.  The basis of humanism remained Platonic thought and its implications of social equality.

But those weren't the limits of humanism.  Humanist philosophers began to write of a "Chain of Being," that began at God and ended with the mere minerals.  According to Platonic thought, man was the center or mediatrix of the Chain of Being.  Man bound the physical world to the heavenly one, and because of his unique position he contained elements of both.  Some philosophers, such as Giovanni Pico Della Miandola, speculated that man had the freedom to choose his position on the Chain of Being.  In On the Dignity of Man, Pico writes in a fictitious address from God to man, "...according to thy judgment thou mayest have and posses what abode, what form, and what functions thou thyself shalt desire."  With such speculations of freedom of choice, philosophers like Pico helped fuel the notion that men should have choice in all areas of their lives, even in government.

Humanism spelled the beginning of the end for ruling families.  At the start of the Renaissance, hereditary kingships were alive and well.  As the humanist movement spread, a growing number of monarchs found themselves deposed and replaced with newly-established democracies.  Beliefs in free will and choice spawned discussions on appropriate government. It should come as no surprise that this was most common in Italy, as it was the seat of the humanist movement, being home to Pico, Da Vinci, Donatello, Machiavelli, and countless other scholars.  Cities such as Florence, Venice, and Pisa established democracies in the Renaissance complete with town meetings and regular voting.  This was not an overnight occurrence and debates continued over the virtue of elected rulers versus hereditary ones.  Scholars like Paolo Sarpi, Francessco Guicciardini, and Nicolo Machiavelli wrote passionately disagreeing arguments that would later influence Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton as they conceived American government.

The other great monarchy of the time, the Church, was experiencing crises of its own.  Pope Clement V, under control of the French king, moved the papacy from Rome to Avignon in 1305, birthing the era that came to be known as the Babylonian Captivity.  The papacy remained in France until 1378, when it returned to Rome, only to encounter more chaos.  Confusion in the College of Cardinals led to the simultaneous election of multiple popes, none of whom wished to abdicate their roles once elected.  The resulting Great Schism was a blow to the Church's credibility and only worked to turn more Europeans to the humanist movement.  By 1415, the various popes had reconciled, but the damage was irreversible.  The combination of a free-thinking people and squabbling Cardinals would prove to be disastrous to the Catholic Church in the centuries to come.

Humanism was nothing short of revolutionary.  Though scholasticism survived thorough the Renaissance, it never achieved the same notoriety after the birth of the humanist movement.  Scholasticism was too rigid, its followers to pious, its teachings too incongruent with the growing thoughts of freedom from the dominant institutions.  Humanism encompassed that eternal desire of man to be free.  Humanist philosophers went so far as to claim that man was freer then the angels, who in the Chain of Being are second only to God.  With such ground-breaking notions, it is easy to understand the appeal.  The story of man is the story of the quest for freedom, and in both tales, humanism is a great leap forward.

-Back to essays -Back to home