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BLOCK - 5
RENAISSANCE IN LITERATURE AND DEVELOPMENT IN SCIENCE
UNIT - 2
HUMANISM
OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS
1. What is meant by the term humanism?
Ans.A humanity centred view of universe
2. Who were the Italian trio responsible for the birth of Humanism?
Ans.Dante-petrarch-Boccacio
3.Whose work triggered the modern literary theory?
Ans. Ferdinand de saussere
4. What is the meaning of the word 'mimesis' used by Plato?
Ans. Representation
5. What is meant by the concept 'Renaissance"? Ans.rebirth of Greek and Roman culture
6. Which of the following Italian city-states is considered the 'birthplace of the
Renaissance"?
Ans.florence
7. Which ancient classical civilization was an important influence on the Renais-
sance humanists?
Ans.Greek and Roman civilization
8. What is the artistic technique that is used to show depth and distance on a flat
surface?
Ans. Realism
9. Who is the author of Divine Comedy?
Ans.Dante
10. Who is the author of the work Secretum Meum?
Ans. Petrarch
11. Who is the author of On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres?
Ans.bacon
1.what are the main elements of Renaissance humanism
Ans. •an interest in studying literature
and art from antiquity
► an interest in the eloquent use of
Latin and philology
▸ a belief in the importance and
power of education to create use-
ful citizens
► the promotion of private and civic
virtue
▸a rejection of scholasticism
► the encouragement of non-reli-
gious studies
► an emphasis on the individual and
their moral autonomy
▸ a belief in the importance of ob-
servation, critical analysis, and
creativity
▸ a belief that poets, writers, and
artists can lead humanity to a bet-
ter way of living
► an interest in the question 'what
does it mean to be human'?
2.explain the influence of humanism in science
Ans.Followed by a rational movement through is
education, Humanism influenced the field of
science as well. Observing, analysing, and
categorising the world around us was an
important part of humanist rational thought.
So, the field of science had made a sharp
leap during the Renaissance. It was powered
at first by developments in mathematics.
The scientific philosopher of the west,
Rene Descartes, argued that one of the most
important tools for studying the natural
sciences was mathematics. His method for
arriving at logical conclusions was called
'Deductive reasoning'. His
following:
1. That whatever we can think about,
conceived of in our minds, exists and
is true (Theory of Doubt - cogito, ergo
sum- I think therefore I exist). Des-
cartes' statement -cogito, ergo sum - I
think therefore I exist - forms the basic
principle of his 'Theory of Doubt'. It
states that the beginning point of any
question of existence may start with a
definite and concrete reality. The world,
universe or god may exist. But we can
have the only proven evidence of exis-
tence is the definiteness of our own ex-
istence, that is, I think therefore I exist,
Because the proof for my existence is
the cognition of my mind itself.
2. Since we can think and conceive of
God, we must take it that God exists.
3. On the question of whether we should
rely on our senses, he said that God
would not play false with us, would
not lead us astray.
According to Descartes there were two
n types of reality. One was the thinking
substance', the mind. The other was 'extended
substance', which meant anything outside the
mind and which could be measured. This idea
is described as 'Cartesian Dualism'.
f
'On the Revolutions of the Heavenly
Spheres' by Nicolaus Copernicus, published
in 1543 created a storm in astronomy. He
proposed in this book that the solar system
was heliocentric. He was regarded as a
classic Renaissance scholar as he studied the
works of antiquity, observed what he could
in the world personally, collated all that had
been studied thus far in his field, and then
came up with a new view of the subject at
hand. Galileo Galilei was responsible for the
subsequent development of astronomy. He
was largely influenced by the Platonic ideas
and challenged the Aristotelian system ofthe universe. He was able to project a new
picture of the universe because of his greatest ha
discovery, the telescope. His study highlighted L
the satellites of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn S
and established the fact that the earth was like
any other planet, thus giving a whole new
perspective on the solar system. These ideas
of Dialogue were not tolerated by the church
which put him on trial for heresy.
Later on, modern science was
institutionalised by the efforts of William
Harvey noted for the circulation of blood,
Robert Boyle known for his laws on
temperature and by Robert Hooke, a famous
biologist. Perhaps the greatest contribution
humanism made to science was its thirst for
answers and the confidence that they could
be found through human endeavour. The
scientific revolution was an important aspect
of humanism as it led to the rise of Empiricism.
According to this method knowledge was to
be acquired through scientific methods and
speculations of general laws.
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