HISTORY 3H03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Renaissance Philosophy, Human Nature, Classical Republicanism
12 Apr 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
This final two-part lecture considers the contributions of philosophy and history to thought on human nature during the renaissance. That a new value system emerged during the renaissance, has long been a matter of intense scholarly discussion and it has been underlying argument of this course. As discussed in previous lectures on petrarch and civic humanism particular, virtue was redefined to legitimize contributions to human society that extended beyond the strict reaches of the church. This conception of virtue was active in nature, shown through the outward display of virtue both in behavior and judgement. But mastery of the body and mind came with training over time through the application of reason and a rigorous formation in a humanist curriculum studies. The humanist curriculum gave significant emphasis to classical philosophy and history in particular because of their exploration of human nature and governance.
