In the first, early period, i.e. in the XIV-XV centuries, the Renaissance has, above all, "humanistic" character and is concentrated mainly in Italy; in the 16th and, to a large extent, in the 17th centuries. it has a predominantly natural-scientific orientation. The humanism of the Renaissance in this period passes to other European countries.

Humanism(lat. humanus - human) in the general sense of the word means the desire for humanity, to create conditions for a life worthy of a person. Humanism begins when a person begins to talk about himself, about his role in the world, about his essence and purpose, about the meaning and purpose of his being. These arguments always have specific historical and social prerequisites. Humanism, in its essence, always expresses certain social, class interests.

In the narrow sense of the word humanism is defined as an ideological movement that was formed during the Renaissance and whose content is the study and dissemination of ancient languages, literature, art and culture. The significance of humanists must be considered not only in connection with the development of philosophical thinking, but also with research work on the study of old texts.

The humanism of the Renaissance in Italy was heavily oriented towards Plato. Among the Platonists of the 15th century, an important place is occupied by Marsilio Ficino(1422-1495). He translated all of Plato into Latin, tried to enrich Plato's teachings with Christian ideas.

His follower was Pico della Mirandola(1463-1495). In his understanding of the world is noticeable pantheism. The world is arranged hierarchically: it consists of angelic, heavenly and elemental spheres. The sensible world arose not from “nothing”, but from a higher incorporeal principle, from “chaos”, the disorder of which God “integrates”. The world is beautiful in its complex harmony and inconsistency. The contradiction of the world is that, on the one hand, the world is outside of God, and on the other, its becoming divine. God does not exist outside of nature, he is constantly present in it.

The fate of a person is determined not by a supernatural set of stars, fate is a consequence of his natural free activity. In speech "On the Dignity of Man"(1486) speaks of man as a special microcosm that cannot be identified with any of the three "horizontal" worlds of the Neoplatonic structure (elementary, celestial and angelic), since he penetrates vertically through all these worlds. A person has the exclusive right to create his personality, his existence by his own will, free and appropriate choice. Thus, man differs from the rest of nature and goes towards "divine perfection". Man is the creator of his own happiness. Humanism Pico anthropocentric he places man at the center of the world. Human nature differs significantly from animal nature, it is more sublime, perfect; Man is a being capable of striving for "divine" perfection. This opportunity is not given in advance, but it becomes, the person himself forms it.

Great French humanist of the Renaissance Michel de Montaigne(1533-1592) received an excellent humanitarian education, knew the culture of antiquity well and admired it. As a member of the city magistrate, he himself was personally convinced of the injustices to which the innocent victims of religious fanaticism were subjected, he was a witness to the falsity and hypocrisy, the falsity of "evidence" in the trials. All this was reflected in his literary work, in which he talked about man and his dignity. He expressed critical views on human life, society and culture of his time, his feelings and moods in the form of essays, notes, diaries.

With the help of skepticism, he wanted to avoid fanatical passions. Equally, he rejected both complacency, complacency and dogmatism, as well as pessimistic agnosticism.

ethical doctrine Montaigne is naturalistic. Against the scholastic model of "virtuous" life, against its vanity, gloom, he puts forward the humanistic ideal of a bright, loving, moderate virtue, but at the same time quite courageous, implacable to malice, fear and humiliation. Such a "virtue" corresponds to nature, comes from the knowledge of the natural conditions of human life. Montaigne's ethics are wholly earthly; asceticism, according to his views, is meaningless. He is free from prejudice. Man cannot be torn out of the natural order, from the process of arising, changing and perishing.

Montaigne defends the idea of ​​independence and autonomy of the human person. His individualism is directed against hypocritical conformism, against the situation when under the slogan "to live for others" selfish, selfish interests are often hidden, in which the other person acts only as a means. He condemns indifference, meanness and servility, which stifle independent, free thinking of a person.

He is skeptical of God: God is unknowable, therefore he has nothing to do with human affairs and human behavior; he regards God as an impersonal principle. His views on religious tolerance were very progressive: no religion "has advantages over the truth."

Humanism Montaigne also has naturalistic character: a person is a part of nature, in his life he must be guided by what mother nature teaches him. Philosophy should act as a mentor, lead to a correct, natural, good life, and not be a collection of dead dogmas, principles, authoritarian sermons.

Montaigne's ideas influenced the subsequent development of European philosophy.

Introduction

The era of the Renaissance (Renaissance), covers the period from the XIV to the beginning of the XVII centuries, falls on the last centuries of medieval feudalism. XIV-XVII centuries - a transitional era from feudalism to capitalism, this is the time of geographical discoveries, trade, personal enterprise, the liberation of man from class restrictions. All this gives rise to a new quality of culture, known as humanism, rebirth. The concept of "humanism" appears in the middle of the XV century. And it means what Cicero and Tacitus once expressed by the term "humanitas" - human, humane, educated, i.e. qualities of a free citizen necessary for active participation in the life of society. The destruction of the guild-corporate structure contributed to the emergence of a secular intelligentsia. It consists of merchants, nobles, lawyers, teachers, even artisans and peasants. This is how circles of humanists appeared, not connected with universities, where scholasticism prevailed. Humanist-intellectuals are not bound by a particular profession. They represent a new aristocracy, the "aristocracy of the spirit"; their ethic-philosophical dominant is the desire for the synthesis of spirituality. They are all aimed at the study of classical ancient (Greek and Latin) literature, philosophy, which become the standard of cultural activity.

The Renaissance is a revolution, first of all, in the system of values, in the assessment of everything that exists and in relation to it. There is a conviction that a person is the highest value. Such a view of a person determined the most important feature of the culture of the Renaissance - the development of individualism in the sphere of worldview, a comprehensive manifestation of individuality in public life. The ancient cultural heritage played a huge role in the formation of Renaissance thinking. The result of the increased interest in classical culture was the study of ancient texts and the use of pagan prototypes to embody Christian images, the collection of cameos, sculptures and other antiquities, as well as the restoration of the Roman tradition of portrait busts. The revival of antiquity, in fact, gave the name to the whole era (after all, the Renaissance is translated as rebirth).

Philosophy occupies a special place in the spiritual culture of this time. The most important feature of the philosophy of the Renaissance is the antischolastic orientation of the views and writings of the thinkers of this time. Its other characteristic feature is the creation of a new pantheistic picture of the world, identifying God and nature.

Finally, if the philosophy of the Middle Ages is theocentric, then salient feature philosophical thought of the Renaissance-anthropocentrism. Man is not only the most important object of philosophical consideration, but also the central link in the entire chain of cosmic existence.

The last chronological period of the Renaissance is the era of the Reformation, completing this stage with the greatest progressive upheaval in the development of European culture. The special historical significance of the Renaissance is associated with the ideas and artistic achievements of humanism, which proclaimed, in contrast to medieval Christian asceticism, the greatness and dignity of man. Humanists saw in man the most beautiful and perfect creation of God. And this deified man of the humanists was opposed by the reformists with the idea of ​​the complete insignificance of man before God, and their optimistic and cheerful worldview with the harsh spirit of voluntary self-restraint and self-discipline. They experience contempt for “thinking” and absolute trust in religion, reaching the point of obscurantism and hatred of science.

The Reformation is a broad religious and socio-political movement that began at the beginning of the 16th century. in Germany, and aimed at the transformation of the Christian religion. Starting in Germany, the Reformation swept a number of European countries and led to the falling away of the Church of England, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and partly Germany.

The term "Reformation" expresses that essential side of the movement, the center of which is criticism and attack on the monopoly position of the Catholic papal church and its teaching in the political, ideological system of the then European society.

The process of overcoming medieval scholasticism, in principle, was carried out in two ways: on the one hand, through the Renaissance, and on the other, through the European Reformation. Both currents differ from each other in the ways of criticizing medieval scholasticism, however, both of them express the need to destroy medieval philosophy and ideology, act as a manifestation of its crisis, and form the prerequisites for creating the foundations of the philosophy of the new time.

The era of the Renaissance and Reformation is defined as a historical process of ideological and cultural development on the eve of the early bourgeois revolutions. The countries of Western and Central Europe reached such an ideological and political development, when the advanced thinkers of that time began to think about the just structure of society. They formulated new views on social life. Renaissance figures tried to portray what a person needs society without any mention of the Bible or the teachings of the Holy Fathers. For them, the figures of the Renaissance, society is a necessary environment for human life. It is not in heaven, not a gift from God, but on earth and the result of human efforts. In their opinion, society, firstly, should be built taking into account human nature; secondly, for all people; thirdly, it is a society of the distant future.

Many philosophers of the Renaissance addressed the issues of the structure of the state. There are concepts that address the problems of the state: based on realistic principles, the political theories of Nicolo Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini and the social utopias of Thomas More and Tommaso Campanella.

Chapter I. The Utopian Ideas of Thomas More

Most notable during this period were the activities of two so-called "utopian socialists": Thomas More and Tommaso Campanella. They are the forerunners of scientific socialism and their work is similar to each other. Both of them, but each in their own way, tried to create a society in which people are equal among themselves, there is no private and even personal property, labor is the duty of all, and division occurs according to need.

Utopia: from the Greek. u-no and typos-place, i.e. a place that does not exist; according to another version, from yu-good and typos-place, i.e. blessed country. The term "Utopia" comes from the title of the book by T. More. The concept of "Utopia" has become a household name for various descriptions of a fictional country, designed to serve as a model of the social system, as well as in the expanded sense of all works and treatises containing unrealistic plans for social transformation.

In the history of mankind, Utopia, as one of the peculiar forms of social consciousness, embodied such features as the creation of a social ideal, criticism of the existing system, the desire to escape from the gloomy reality, as well as attempts to imagine the future of society. Initially, Utopia was closely intertwined with legends about the "golden age", about the "islands of the blessed." In antiquity and the Renaissance, Utopia took on the predominant form of describing perfect states, supposedly existing somewhere on earth or existing in the past; in the XVII-XVIII centuries. various utopian treatises and projects of social and political reforms became widespread.

Thomas More was born in 1477 or 1478 in London in the family of a wealthy citizen, brought up in the house of a prominent political figure of that time, Cardinal Norton. More received an excellent education at first at Oxford University, where for two years he enthusiastically studied Greek philosophy and literature, was a member of the circle of Oxford humanists (among whom was Erasmus of Rotterdam), and then, at the insistence of his father, a prominent royal judge, passed a seven-year course of legal sciences in special schools of English legalists. As a lawyer, he quickly wins the recognition of the merchants.

In 1504 More is elected to Parliament and incurs the disfavor of Henry VII by speaking out against his financial claims. Under the new king, he is appointed deputy sheriff. In this position, according to Erasmus, he earned himself a reputation as a just judge, "the patron of all those in need."

In 1518 More enters the service of Henry VIII. At the beginning of the 20s, he supported him in a polemic with Luther and, taking advantage of his favor, in 1529. assumes the highest office, Lord Chancellor. However, when, convinced of the impossibility of subordinating the papal throne to his influence, Henry VIII declared himself the head of the church, T. More, remaining faithful to his convictions, in 1532. resigned as Lord Chancellor.

July 6, 1535 was executed on charges of high treason (refusal of the oath to the king as the "supreme head" of the English church). Several centuries later, the Catholic Church, in need of heroes of high intellectual and moral rank, canonized T. More.

The Isle of Utopia was published in 1516. The book was written in the then popular genre of "traveler's story". Allegedly, a certain navigator Raphael Gitlodey visited the unknown island of Utopia, whose social structure impressed him so much that he tells others about it.

The first part of "Utopia" is devoted to criticism of the state structure of England. On the whole, English society is condemned for the polarization of property that has gone too far: on the one hand, “miserable poverty,” on the other, “daring luxury.”

What is offered instead? Thomas More depicted a society where private and personal property has been eliminated, consumption equality has been introduced, production and life have been socialized. Work in Utopia is the duty of all citizens, distribution occurs according to need, the working day is reduced to 6 hours; the hardest work is done by slaves. The absence of private property allows T. More to build production relations in Utopia according to a new principle: on the basis of cooperation and mutual assistance of citizens free from exploitation. However, in designing a just society, More was not consistent enough, allowing the existence of slaves in Utopia. Slaves on the island are a disenfranchised category of the population, burdened with heavy labor service. They are "chained" in chains and "permanently" busy with work. The presence of slaves in Utopia, to a large extent, apparently, was due to low level modern Moru production techniques. Utopians need slaves to save citizens from the most difficult and dirty work. To become a slave, one must commit a serious crime (including treason or debauchery). Slaves are engaged in hard physical work until the end of their days, but in the case of diligent work they can even be pardoned. Slaves can also have universal equality: equality among themselves. Equally dressed, equally haircut, equally disenfranchised. Not individuals, but a mass of typicalities. The extent of freedom even for honest Utopians can be judged by the following passage: "Each region marks its slaves with its own sign, the destruction of which is a criminal offense, as well as appearing abroad or talking about something with a slave from another region." Moreover, for a slave there is no way to escape (either they will inform, or the appearance will give out). Moreover, denunciations are encouraged in every possible way, and silence about the escape is severely punished. “Slaves not only do not have the opportunity to come to an agreement, but they cannot even gather to talk or exchange greetings.” True, there is hope for liberation in the case of diligent work. The presence of slaves is undoubtedly the weak side of the utopian concept of Thomas More.

The political system of Utopia is based on the principles of election and seniority. Elections are held annually. The supreme body of the state is the Senate, which takes into account everything that is produced in certain regions of the state and, if necessary, redistributes what has been produced. Citizens are elected to the Senate at least once a year. Power is constantly changing, only one person, the prince, remains at the helm for life. However, he can also be removed if he wants to rule alone.

The basic economic unit of Utopia is the family. Upon closer examination, however, it turns out that the Utopian family is unusual and is formed not only on the principle of kinship. The main feature of the utopian family is its professional affiliation to a particular type of craft. T. Mor repeatedly emphasizes that relations in the family are strictly patriarchal, “the oldest is at the head of the household. Wives serve their husbands, children serve their parents, and in general the younger ones serve the elders. In addition, veneration of ancestors is common in Utopia. T. More lists the crafts that are practiced in individual families: this is usually "spinning wool or processing flax, the craft of masons, tinsmiths or carpenters."

The main productive cell in the agriculture of Utopia is a large community of at least 40 men and women and two additional assigned slaves. At the head of such a rural "family" are "venerable in years" manager and manager.

Turning to the analysis of the ethical aspect of "Utopia", it is easy to see that the main thing in utopian ethics is the problem of happiness. The Utopians believed that “for people, all happiness or its most important share” lies in pleasure, enjoyment. However, according to the ethics of the Utopians, the happiness of a person does not lie in every pleasure, but “only in honest and noble”, based on virtue and striving ultimately for the “highest good”, to which “virtue attracts our nature”. By posing and solving these "eternal" problems, More reveals a thorough acquaintance with ancient Greek philosophy, in particular with the writings of Plato and Aristotle. The Utopians considered their ethics to be the most reasonable, first of all, because it is useful for society as a whole and for each member individually, since the principles of this ethics, from their point of view, corresponded most of all to the very essence of human nature, manifested in the human striving for happiness.

The religions of the Utopians differed from each other not only on their island, but also in every city. True, what was common to the religions of the Utopians was that they necessarily prescribed to all citizens strict observance of moral norms that were reasonable and useful for the whole society, as well as established political orders, i.e. instead of what, from the point of view of More the humanist, was of universal value: philanthropy, a combination of personal interests with the public good, and the prevention of religious strife. The maintenance of these reasonable moral and political norms was best, according to More, provided by a belief in the immortality of the soul. Otherwise, the citizens of Utopia enjoyed complete freedom of religion. Everyone could propagate their religion “only calmly and judiciously, with the help of arguments”, without resorting to violence and refraining from insulting other religions.

Unlike the philosophers of antiquity and the Middle Ages, More explores and solves ethical problems at the intersection of philosophy, politics and sociology. More's originality as a Renaissance thinker lies in the fact that he is looking for a way to perfect ethics in the radical reorganization of society on the basis of social justice, equality and fraternity. At the same time, More is not limited to condemning human vices and proclaiming the principles of ethics that should guide a certain abstract individual, but derives the universal principle of the perfect ethics of the individual from the collective ethics of a classless society, proclaiming morality that which meets the interests of the majority. Everything that is contrary to the good of the majority is declared immoral. The author of "Utopia" does not think of any other way to solve moral and ethical problems than through the destruction of private property and the reorganization of the entire society on communist principles. This is precisely what More means when he speaks of the abolition of the power of gold and the abolition of money. By destroying property and money, the Utopians achieved a fundamental solution to a number of ethical problems over which generations of thinkers of antiquity and the Middle Ages struggled in vain. Many social vices and conflicts disappeared: "deceit, theft, robbery, contention, indignation, litigation, strife, murder, betrayal, poisoning."

Throughout his book, Thomas More affirms the truth that, first of all, a vicious social system is subject to reconstruction, since the sources of moral depravity of people (including pride itself, condemned by Christian morality) are inequality arising from private property, without the abolition of which a fair social ethics worthy of man. Only a state where private property has been abolished should be recognized not only as the best, but also "the only one that can rightfully claim to be called a state."

Chapter 2. Utopian ideas of Tommaso Campanella

Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639) was born into a shoemaker's family. In 1582 joined the Dominican order. Dissatisfied with the scholastic scholarship cultivated by the order, Campanella became acquainted with the natural philosophy of B. Telesio, whose teaching he defended in his first treatise, Philosophy Proven by Sensations (1591). Fleeing from the persecution of the order authorities, he fled from Naples to northern Italy, where he was arrested on charges of heresy. After trial and imprisonment in Rome, Campanella returned to Naples and then to Calabria. Here he led a wide anti-Spanish conspiracy, which, as a result of a denunciation, was uncovered in August 1599. Campanella was captured as a political criminal and heretic, tortured and sentenced to life imprisonment. He spent 27 years in Neapolitan prisons. In prison, he wrote numerous works on philosophy, theology, astrology, astronomy, medicine, physics, mathematics, politics, including the famous utopia "City of the Sun" (1623). In 1626 Campanella achieved a transfer to Rome, which, however, did not save him from inquisitorial persecution and prison. Interested in his writings and astrological predictions of Pope Urban VIII, Campanella was able to obtain release. However, in 1635, in connection with the demands of the Spanish authorities for his extradition, Campanella fled to France, where, using the patronage of Cardinal Richelieu, he published many of his works and wrote new political treatises with the aim of inciting the French government to fight for the liberation of Italy from Spanish oppression.

The City of the Sun was written a hundred years after Thomas More's Utopia. Campanella was familiar with More's work, so his influence on the "City of the Sun" is clearly visible.

Campanella draws an ideal, from his point of view, society, where everyone works and there are no "idle scoundrels and parasites."

During the 27 years of imprisonment, Campanella, of course, thought for a long time about inequality and about the best state structure. How to make society more just? Having comprehended the reality surrounding him, he came to the conclusion: the existing system is unfair. In order for people to live better, it must be replaced by another, more perfect system, where all people are equal.

In terms of genre, the "City of the Sun" is also not new: a traveler's story about the ideal country he visited.

In the city of the Sun, whose inhabitants Campanella calls solariums, private property has been abolished; Labor is a common duty and the main human need. All solariums “take part in military affairs, agriculture and cattle breeding ... And the one who knows the most number of arts and crafts enjoys great honor; those who are most capable of it are determined to engage in this or that skill. The heaviest crafts ... are considered by them to be the most laudable, and no one shies away from doing them ... Women are engaged in less difficult crafts. Solariums have a 4-hour working day. In the time remaining from work, people should develop in soul and body. Either study science or exercise.

The city of the Sun is dominated by a spiritual aristocracy. Campanella writes: “The supreme ruler of them is the priest, who in their language is called the Sun, in ours we would call the Metaphysician. He is the head of all, both in the mortal and in the spiritual, and on all issues and disputes, he makes the final decision. The most educated person becomes the supreme ruler. They can be a person who has reached the age of 35. This position is irremovable until such a person is found who will be wiser than his predecessor. Under the Supreme Ruler there are three co-rulers: Pon, Sin, Mor or Power, Wisdom, Love. Officials are replaced by the will of the people. But the four highest are irremovable, “unless, by consultation among themselves, they transfer their dignity to another, whom they confidently consider the wisest, smartest and most impeccable. They are really so reasonable and honest that they willingly yield to the wisest and learn from him, but such a transfer of power rarely happens.

The distribution of everything that is produced in the city of the Sun is handled by officials, and no one can appropriate anything for themselves. Solariums have everything in common at home, bedrooms, beds and all necessary items. Every six months, the bosses appoint "... who in which circle to sleep and who in the first bedroom, who in the second: each of them is indicated by letters on the lintel."

Solariums do not have internal trade. With merchants from other countries, goods are exchanged.

Monk Campanella writes that tanning salons "look at childbearing as a religious matter, aimed at the good of the state, and not individuals." The state itself selects couples for the reproduction of the population, “stately and beautiful women unite only with stately and strong men; fat ones with thin ones, and thin ones with full ones, so that they balance each other well and profitably.

According to Campanella, the main cause of evil is property, which gives rise to selfishness. To achieve his selfish goals, wealth, a person begins to rob the state or becomes a traitor or a hypocrite when he lacks power and nobility. Campanella writes: “But when we renounce selfishness, we have only love for the community ...” In the ideal community of Campanella, property and the family are abolished, children are brought up entirely by the state.

Considering that the cause of people's misfortune is ignorance, Campanella paid great attention to public education and upbringing. From the moment of birth, children begin to learn and grow up in society. They study the alphabet, get acquainted with the history and languages ​​from the pictures. From the age of seven, they study the natural sciences and other subjects, along with this they are taught crafts and agriculture. Children brought up in this way are similar in ability and disposition, which is why there is great harmony in the state, “supported by an unchanging mutual love and helping each other."

The implementation of his program Campanella, entrusted to the European sovereigns, the Spanish, then the French king and the Pope, trying to achieve, spiritual unity humanity within the reformed in accordance with his ideals of Catholicism.

Conclusion

In their books, Thomas More and Tommaso Campanella tried to find the features that an ideal society should have. Reflections on the best state system took place against the backdrop of cruel morals, inequality and social contradictions.

In the XVI-XVII centuries. capitalism was just emerging in the depths of feudalism, the ideals of the Renaissance are full of internal contradictions, and society was not ready to accept the ideas of socialism, so the utopias of Thomas More and Tommaso Campanella turned out to be fantastic.

In general, More and Campanella's ideas of equality are similar. They both dream of a state where everyone would be equal among themselves. Moreover, equality often crosses all boundaries. So, according to More, people are a mass that has lost its individuality. No one even has a chance to stand out: everyone is required to dress the same, spend time the same, work exactly 6 hours a day. Nobody really asks people's opinions.

Researchers called Campanella's main mistake the excessive regulation of the life of each member of society.

After reading both works, we can conclude that they depict the ideal of a totalitarian state, where the supreme ruler is elected for life and has unlimited power, where everything is regulated, from hairstyles to raising children, where a person never belongs to himself, but is always under the supervision of a boss .

The main merits of both thinkers were considered the denial of private property and exploitation, the introduction of universal labor and equality.

The problem with utopians is that they think about the people as a whole, and not about specific people. Everywhere the masses or social groups are considered. The individual is nothing in these works. The models of society proposed by Mor and Campanella seemed ideal in the 16th and 17th centuries. At that time, social knowledge was not deep enough, enough knowledge about society and human psychology had not yet been accumulated. Later, when society rose to a higher level of development, attention to the individual increased. The society of the future is a society of individuals, strong personalities.

Utopian beliefs have come under constant criticism over the centuries. This suggests that the basic provisions of the ideal society constantly disturbed the minds of thinkers.

The ideas of the early utopians were further developed and had a great influence on the history of philosophical thought. The doctrine of the state structure had the greatest influence on the historical fate of the European peoples. The utopian socialists of the 19th century, Saint-Simon, Fourier, R. Owen, G. Babeuf, and others, continued the ideas of the early utopians. The ideas of social equality contributed to the creation of various kinds of communist theories, including Marxist communism.

The main thing for which the socialists criticize More and Campanella is a lack of understanding of the impossibility of a peaceful transition to socialism, through negotiations. K. Marx was the first to substantiate the need for class struggle to change the state system, because those in power will not give up power so easily.

Other critics have noted the danger of utopias, their ability to come true, and the threat they pose to the free development of man.

Send a request with a topic right now to find out about the possibility of receiving a consultation.

Renaissance humanists.

During the Renaissance in Italy, a social group of people called humanists. They made philosophy, literature, ancient languages, the discovery and study of the works of ancient authors, and philosophical research the main goal of their life.

Humanists cannot be considered intellectuals in the modern sense of the word, they represented an elite esoteric group, which, through their activities and way of life, established new systems of spiritual values. Characteristic is emergence of an intellectual and artistic elite. Among people of mental labor, those who solve the problem of a person, form National language and national culture. This poets, philologists, philosophers. It is they who determine the independence of human thinking from state and church institutions. Passion for antiquity was expressed in an unprecedented interest in antique art .

The intellectuals of the Renaissance strive to fill the medieval gap with Antiquity and carry out multifaceted work to restore the riches of philosophy and art. The restoration of the ancient heritage began with the study of ancient languages. The invention of printing played an important role, which contributed to the spread of humanistic ideas among the masses.

Humanism developed as an ideological trend. He captured merchant circles, found like-minded people at the courts of the titans, penetrating into the highest religious schemes, established himself among the masses and left his mark on folk poetry. Builds up new secular intelligentsia . Its representatives organize circles, give lectures at universities, act as advisers to sovereigns. Humanists brought freedom of judgment, independence in relation to authorities into the spiritual culture. For them, there is no hierarchy of society, in which a person is only a spokesman for the interests of the estate, they oppose any censorship, and especially the church. Humanists express the requirements of the historical situation, forming an enterprising, active and initiative person.

The main character of the era becomes an energetic, strong-willed, liberated person who dreams of realizing earthly ideals. This person strives for sovereignty in all areas, challenging established traditions, restoring the ideal of a comprehensively developed harmonious personality.

“A well-bred harmonious individual must: be able to ride a horse, fight with swords, own various weapons, be a good speaker, dance beautifully, play musical instruments, have knowledge in the field of science and art, know foreign languages, be natural in behavior and carry God in your soul.

V Christian culture the highest form of existence was recognized as that which led to the salvation of the soul and made it possible to approach God: prayer, rituals, reading the Holy Scriptures; during the Renaissance traditions and higher authorities no longer pressed on a person, a person longed for real power over nature and himself. Man was not only an object of admiration, the ban on scientific research was lifted human body and psyche. Artists, doctors study the structure of the body, and writers, thinkers and poets study feelings and emotions. Being engaged in creativity, the artists went through the perspective into the field of optics and physics, through the problems of proportions - into anatomy and mathematics. Renaissance artists developed the principles and discovered the laws of direct and linear perspective. The combination of a scientist and an artist in one person, in one creative person, became possible only in the Renaissance.

§ 2. Humanism of the Renaissance

The realization of humanity presupposes mastering the achievements of the cultural wealth of the past. The humanism of the Renaissance manifested itself in revolutionary ideas directed at the inner, earthly "divinity" of man, in the rejection of the dogmatism of church truths.

Humanism (lat. humanus - human) represents the first period of philosophical thought of the Renaissance, the ideology of humanism was a revolution in all philosophy: the nature of philosophizing, the sources of philosophy, the style of thinking, the very appearance of philosophers, their place in society became different.

Humanism is born not in the departments of European universities, not in monasteries and monastic orders. New philosophers - politicians, poets, philologists, orators, diplomats, teachers. Circles of learned interlocutors in communal cities, in the villas of wealthy patricians, at the courts of patrons, become the focus of spiritual life, centers of a new culture. Their relentless search for forgotten ancient texts, translation and philological activities gave European culture new ideals, a new view of human nature, a new worldview. A secular culture was created, with which all subsequent European culture is inextricably linked.

The difference between the views of the humanists on the nature of man and the scholastic ones was quite clearly expressed by the humanist Pico della Mirandola in his famous Oration on the Dignity of Man. Having created man and placed him at the center of the world, God, according to this philosopher, addressed him with these words: “We do not give you, O Adam, either a certain place, or your own image, or a special obligation, so that both place and person, and you had the obligation of your own free will, according to your will and your decision. The image of other creations is determined within the limits of the laws we have established. You, not constrained by any limits, will define your image according to your own decision, in whose power I leave you ”(History of Aesthetics. Monuments of World Aesthetic Thought. M., 1982. Vol. 1. P. 507.).

A person to whom God has given free will must determine his own place in the world, he is not just a natural being, but the creator of himself and his destiny. Majestic figures stand at the origins of Renaissance humanism Dante Alighieri(1255-1321) and Francesco Petrarch(1304-1374).

F. Engels defined Dante as "the last poet of the Middle Ages and the first poet of modern times." His "Divine Comedy" - a poem in 3 parts ("Hell", "Purgatory", "Paradise") and 100 songs - a kind of encyclopedia of the Middle Ages - a monumental synthesis of poetry, philosophy, theology, science - had a great influence on the development of European culture .

Dante accepts Christian dogma as the truth, but gives a new interpretation of the relationship between the divine and the human. He does not oppose these principles, but sees them in mutual unity. God cannot be opposed to the creative forces of man. The dual nature of man, mortal and immortal, also determines his dual destiny: the manifestation of his own virtue in earthly life and “bliss eternal life- after death and with the assistance of the divine will. The earthly destiny of man is carried out in civil society according to the prescriptions of philosophers and under the guidance of a secular sovereign; the church leads to eternal life. (Dante Alighieri. Small works. M., 1968. S. 361.) Dante's humanism is full of faith in the strength of man, his personal qualities are responsible for his good, and not wealth or inheritance, position in the social hierarchy. At the heart of Dante's political idea is the demand for the church to give up its claims to secular power. The Church should deal with issues of "eternity", earthly affairs are the lot of people who are striving to create a social order based on happiness, bliss and eternal peace. Dante belonged to those ideologists who combined humanism with the theory of "dual truth".

Dante opened the way to humanistic anthropology, within which creativity proceeded Francesco Petrarch(1304-1374) , who was considered the "first humanist", "the father of humanism". Unlike Dante, who still accepted "eternity" in the understanding of the scholastics, Petrarch completely rejects it. In his treatise On His Own Ignorance and the Ignorance of the Ancients, he criticizes scholasticism, its methods, the cult of authority, and advocates the independence of his own thinking from church scholarship. The primary interest of Petrarch and his followers is turned to ethical questions. In the philosophical dialogue "My Secret" he reveals the deepest internal conflicts people and ways to overcome them. The inner world of a person, moreover, a “new” person who breaks ties with medieval traditions, is the main content of his poems, letters, and philosophical treatises. Great propagandist ancient culture, he had a unique library of Latin texts, his activities had a great influence on his followers.

Among them should be included Giovanni Boccaccio(1313-1375), Lorenzo Valla(1407-1457) and others.

In the XV-XVI centuries. humanistic thinking is also spreading in other countries - in the Netherlands, England, Germany, Switzerland, and unlike Italian, which was more of a literary nature, the "northern" type of humanism was distinguished by a more rigorous construction using methodology, logic, the theory of state and law.

The main representative of this type of humanism is Erasmus of Rotterdam (1469-1536)- Dutch thinker, philologist, philosopher, theologian. He is best known for his work entitled The Praise of Stupidity (1509). This is a kind of "sum", a summary of the author's views on all the problems of man, his existence in the world. In a sarcastic-joking manner, he criticizes all the vices of the Catholic Church, scholastic dogma. The main pathos of the work is expressed in two theses: the paradoxical duality of all phenomena of being and the harmfulness of dogmatism, obsession, intellectual blindness. In his criticism of the church, he was the forerunner of the religious revolution (Reformation), but he himself did not go over to her side.

In his treatises, he demanded a return to genuine Christian morality. Asceticism, renunciation of earthly life is, in his opinion, immoral; the meaning of life is to use the blessings of life; in this, Christianity must learn from classical antiquity, and the business of philosophy must deal with questions of the natural life of man.

The impact of the Christian humanism of Erasmus of Rotterdam was extremely great: his like-minded people and followers are found throughout Catholic and Protestant Europe from England to Italy, from Spain to Poland.

The decline of a powerful current of humanism found its expression in France, a vivid representative of which was Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592). The radical optimism of the emerging culture brought a number of superficial ideas; the overthrow, denial of church authorities often accompanied the promotion of new ones, which was the subject of Montaigne's criticism. All his work is dedicated to man and his dignity. A characteristic feature of his works is skepticism, with the help of which he sought to avoid fanaticism, blind obedience to any authority.

Montaigne's main work, "Experiences", was written in French, which in itself challenged the church, according to the established canon of which all works were written in Latin. In the "Experiments" Montaigne, in aphoristic form, through self-observation, by referring to ancient wisdom, builds a practical-philosophical view of man in general. Experience serves as a teacher for him, he demands to put reason above authority, custom and "immutable" truths. In his opinion, the main ability that should be developed in a person is the ability of judgment, which arises in the experience of comparing reason with reality.

His views had a significant impact on the formation of the experimental methodology of the New Age; on creativity - F. Bacon, B. Pascal, J.-J. Russo and others.

§ 3. Philosophy of the Reformation

The new system of values ​​could not but affect the foundation of medieval culture: Christian (religious) dogma. The gap between the excessive demands of asceticism, purity, morality in the Christian ideology and the existing church shortcomings, hypocrisy, excessive enrichment and the general decline in the morals of priests became too obvious. Holy Scripture began to contradict the created catholic church system of dogma.

In the XVI-XVII centuries. there is an attempt to revise the church ideology and the relationship between man and the church. There is a movement of the Reformation, which is associated with the names of Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Müntzer, Zwingli and others. Within the framework of religion, the rationalistic tendency with elements of the ancient perception of the world and the role of man in it is intensifying. And although religion is separated from science, politics, morality, its main tenets are being revised in religion itself.

The Reformation, which began in Germany, swept a number of European countries and led to the falling away from the Catholic system of England, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and other countries, laying the foundation for Protestantism. As a result, the church enjoyed less power in these countries, which facilitated the development of science and secular culture in them.

The ideologist of the Reformation in Germany was Martin Luther (1483-1546). He spoke publicly in defense of his teaching, protesting against the sale of papal indulgences. In 1517, he posted 95 theses on the doors of the church in Wittenberg against the abuses of the church, the Catholic clergy, which had an effect similar to "a lightning strike in a powder keg" (F. Engels). These theses were taken as a signal that all opposition forces were speaking out against the church for the national and religious independence of Germany. The main thesis of his teaching was to remove intermediaries between man and God - intermediaries in the form of the church and the clergy.

Luther's teaching grew out of his interpretation of sacred texts, dogmas, teachings of Christian mystics. From this interpretation it followed that the salvation of a person does not depend on the performance of external rites (as the church demanded), but on the sincerity of faith, which is bestowed upon him directly by God. Therefore, each person has the fullness of divine grace, there is no fundamental difference between the laity and the clergy, and, therefore, the church is not a necessary link between a person and God, everyone can independently practice piety without restrictions and prescriptions. Luther sought to replace the authority of the church with the authority of the Bible. To do this, he translated the Bible into German so that it became accessible to everyone (in the Middle Ages, all sacred texts were written in Latin and were available only to clergy). Luther rejected the pope's exclusive right to interpret Holy Scripture, and monasticism as an ideal image of religious service. In social terms, these ideas were associated with the demand for the elimination of monasticism and church land ownership, the simplification of worship, and the democratization of worship.

The Reformation movement was heterogeneous in its social aspirations. Calvinism, Zwinglianism and other offshoots of Protestantism were more radical, but what they had in common was the affirmation of man's inner religious freedom, the value of personal effort, and the change in the role of man in the general system of the universe.

§ 4. Neoplatonism and natural philosophy

The new worldview of the Renaissance is also manifested in the relationship of man to nature. Although the philosophy of nature is still associated with medieval philosophy, and the interpretation of the question of the relationship between God and the world remains central, a characteristic feature of this period is its anti-scholastic orientation. Since medieval philosophy was based on the philosophy of Aristotle, the natural philosophy of the Renaissance refers to the ideas of Platonism and Neoplatonism. However, in the understanding of nature, as well as in the interpretation of man, the philosophy of the Renaissance has its own specifics. “The birth of a new science coincides with a change in the philosophical attitude, with the conversion of the value attached to theoretical knowledge in comparison with sensory experience, coincides with the discovery positive character of the concept of infinity"(Koyre A. Essays on the history of philosophical thought. M., 1985. P. 19.) It is known that the Greeks were disgusted with infinity. According to their ideas, the cosmos is harmoniously closed, it, like everything perfect, is spherical, a kind of work of art, universal harmony, the general order of things, unshakable order, justice. “Lies and envy are inherent in the nature of the infinite,” Pythagoras argued (Quoted from: Cassidy F. H. From myth to logos. P. 162.). It is clear what kind of “revolution” had to take place in the worldview of the era in order to establish a new attitude towards the finite and the infinite, the possibility and reality, the material and the ideal, the absolute and the relative. This "revolution" began during the Renaissance. Pantheism (“pan” - everything, “theos” - God) of the philosophy of the Renaissance is connected with this - a doctrine that identifies God with the whole of the world (“God is in everything”). The Christian God loses his transcendent supranatural character, he seems to merge with nature, and nature, in turn, becomes deified.

One of the most profound thinkers and representative of Neoplatonism of the Renaissance was Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464). His most significant work is On Scientific Ignorance. Kuzansky brings God closer to nature, attributes divine attributes to nature, and above all, infinity in space. As you know, the central concept of Neoplatonism is the concept of "One". Plato and the Neo-Platonists characterize the One through the opposite of the “other”, the many, the non-single. Kuzansky rejects ancient dualism and concludes that nothing is opposite to the One, the One is everything. This philosophical setting is also unacceptable for Christian theism, which fundamentally distinguishes the Creator (the One) from the creation (everything), and is different from the concept of Neoplatonism, which never identified the One with "everything".

From the statement that the One has no opposite, Kuzansky concludes that the One is identical to the infinite, the infinite. The Infinite is that, more than which nothing can be, it is the “maximum”, the One is the “minimum”. Nicholas of Cusa thus discovered the principle of the coincidence of opposites. To make this principle clearer, he turns to mathematics: as the radius of a circle increases to infinity, the circle becomes an infinite straight line. For such a maximum circle, the diameter becomes identical to the circle, moreover, not only the diameter, but also the center coincides with the circle, and thus the point (minimum) and the infinite line (maximum) are one and the same. The idea of ​​the absence of the center of the world prepares the Copernican revolution in astronomy, and the methodological principle of the coincidence of opposites makes Cusa one of the founders of the new European dialectic.

The identification of the One with the infinite, carried out by N. Kuzansky, subsequently entailed a restructuring of the principles not only of ancient philosophy and medieval theology, but also of ancient and medieval science - astronomy and mathematics. He is undoubtedly the forerunner of the doctrine of the infinitesimal and the limit of mathematical analysis of the 17th century. His teaching is permeated with faith in the limitless possibilities of human cognition, in his creative abilities.

The idea of ​​an infinite world developed Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543), who made a revolutionary revolution in astronomy and laid the foundation for the heliocentric system. His main idea is the rejection of the idea of ​​the Earth as the center of the Universe, reducing it to the category of other planets. At the same time, anthropocentrism began to gradually disappear in astronomy in the views on the essence of the world, which is now revealed to us in all its rich diversity, a world governed by objective laws, independent of human consciousness and not subject to human goals. It should be noted that the theory of Copernicus preceded the new natural science, destroying the medieval idea of ​​the world, based on the cosmology of Aristotle. Aristotle proceeds in his views, first of all, from the opposition of Earth and Heaven. The laws governing celestial bodies, had to be different from the laws that prevail on the Earth, and the motionless Earth was the center of the Universe. Therefore, the revolutionary ideas of Copernicus greatly undermined the authority of the church, not without reason that his main work "On the Conversion of the Circles of Heaven" was included in the "Index of Forbidden Books" of the church.

Pantheistic philosophy Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) was the apogee of the development of the philosophical thought of the Renaissance. It embodied humanism, spontaneous dialectics and the greatness of nature. For J. Bruno "God is the infinite in the finite, he is in everything and everywhere, not outside of us, but as the most present." The One - the central category of his philosophy - is both the cause of being and the very being of things, it identifies essence and existence. The One is infinite and boundless, in it the matter coincides with the form, the spiritual with the corporeal, the reality with the possibility. Removing the boundary between creator and creation, Bruno destroys the traditional opposition between form (the creative principle) and matter (the passive principle), and thus conveys to nature itself what was attributed to God in the Middle Ages, namely, an active, creative impulse. Bruno's pantheism paves the way for a materialistic understanding of nature. Since movement as self-movement is identical to life, Bruno expresses the idea of ​​the existence of life on other planets, of the existence of many worlds. Man for Bruno is part of nature. His love of knowledge and the power of reason elevate him above the world. Bruno's work represented the most radical and consistent anti-scholastic philosophy. The irreconcilable conflict with the church ended tragically for him: in 1600, Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in Rome by the Inquisition. He did not renounce his views, and in the history of culture his feat serves as an example of the dignity and greatness of the human Spirit.

The ideas of the philosophers of the Renaissance laid the foundation for the development of philosophy and natural science in modern times.

The Renaissance, as noted, appeared in the history of Western culture as an era of exaltation of the human personality, as a period of faith in man, in his endless possibilities and in his mastery of nature. But Copernicus and Bruno turned the Earth into an insignificant grain of sand of the universe, and at the same time, man turned out to be incommensurable with the infinite space, dark and cold, feeling his powerlessness and insignificance, horror before the emptiness of the Universe. It was the natural philosophy of the 16th century, having destroyed the Renaissance picture of being, that laid the foundation for a different picture of the world, a different culture and a different philosophy.

§ 5. Philosophy of state and law. Social utopianism

The dream of the humanists of the Renaissance about a radical reform of the church, about the universal unity of peoples, cleansed of the abuses of Christianity, manifested itself in the social sphere, in socio-political philosophy.

At the end of the XV-beginning of the XVI century. Italy was shaken by constant wars, it was fragmented into separate republics, the princes vied with each other for power. The need for a strong state to fulfill this task was best expressed in his theory by the Florentine Niccolo Machiavelli(sometimes Italian Machiavelli is transcribed and written as Machiavelli ) (1469-1527) Michelangelo's friend, statesman, historian, poet, military writer.

In the field of government, according to medieval theology, events were presented as the product of divine will. The position of Machiavelli is consonant with his time: to bring out the necessary state structure without resorting to theological idea. For him, the social fact has become a fact that lends itself to social explanation. He deduced the necessity of the state from the egoistic nature of man, from his desire for personal interest and self-preservation. This requires the power to curb selfishness and establish order. This task is carried out by the state. His views are characterized by a conviction in the unlimited possibilities of sovereigns and commanders: he attributed to the statesman an exceptional role in governing the state, the well-being of which depends on his will, wisdom, institutions and laws, which he can establish if he has the necessary talent and energy for this.

During a meeting with Caesar Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI, Machiavelli first had the idea to create a state science, completely independent of any morality. In such distancing, he saw a means to clearly understand the true art of government and build it on a new (objective) foundation: politics is determined not by God or morality, but by practice itself, the natural laws of life and human psychology. Machiavelli in his work "The Sovereign" made a detailed analysis of the successes and failures of various politicians and commanders of Rome, Turkey, France, Persia, paying attention not only to military operations, but also to the mores of a particular people, to the psychology of the individual. In his opinion, the ideal ruler should not be bound by any preconceived schemes, religion or his word, but should be guided by real facts. In this case, morality is not important; he can be cunning, cruel, sinful, merciless (of which Caesar Borgia served as a model), only in this way will he master the elemental movement human behavior arising from the thirst for wealth and instincts. As a result, the socio-philosophical views of Machiavelli are often defined as a model of cynicism and immorality in politics, and the term "Machiavellianism" eventually became synonymous with politics, which is guided by the principle "the end justifies the means", when the government does not obey the highest moral criteria and its goal is to succeed. at any price.

However, the work of this thinker must be understood in the context of the historical conditions of that time. His initial attitudes are not so important, which could be nothing more than speculation, since there was no science about man and, moreover, about society. But the merit of Machiavelli is that he carried out the idea of ​​the existence of an objective regularity, which he called "fortune", which must be known, and having known, directed for the benefit of mankind. The contradictory philosophy of the Florentine has as its source an exorbitant expansion of the possibilities of the human mind, which is characteristic of the thinkers of this time, but its significance is great as the first attempt to free oneself from religious dogmas in the field of political life.

The most radical form of opposition to both the feudal order and the deepening social differentiation of society was the emergence of the utopian theories of Thomas More and Tommaso Campanella, which were the forerunners of the subsequent utopian socialism of Saint-Simon, Fourier, Owen.

Thomas More (1478-1535)- English thinker and politician. He combines his scientific studies with legal activities, holds a number of government posts, and in 1529 becomes Chancellor of England. He had a negative attitude towards the Lutheran Reformation. More's refusal to recognize the "Act of the Supremacy of the King" over the reformed church, his courageous behavior provoked the wrath of Henry VIII, and More was executed in 1535. T. More's heroic behavior was the embodiment of a humanistic moral ideal human dignity and freedom.

Mora became world famous for his treatise “The little book is truly golden and equally useful, as well as funny, oh best device states on the island of Utopia" (1516), containing a description of the ideal, fair, classless system of the fantastic island of Utopia (from the Greek utopia is a place that does not exist). This word he invented later became a household word. Mor sees the cause of the suffering of the people in the existence of private property and the dominance of private interest. The ideal state is based on the community of property. Labor in it is the duty of all citizens, distribution occurs according to need, the working day is reduced to 6 hours, the most difficult work is performed by criminals. The goal of the communist society of utopians is not only material goods, but above all, the free development of the human personality. Free time after work is provided to the personal discretion of everyone for spiritual development, science or other activities useful to society. More did not see a way to implement this ideal, since he was an opponent of popular movements, seeing in them a destructive principle and anarchy.

Another representative of revivalist utopianism is Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639). In his treatise "City of the Sun" (1602), he puts forward the ideal and program of a general social transformation based on the abolition of private property and exploitation, on the realization of the kingdom of God on earth. Unlike More, he is fully convinced of the possibility of realizing this coup by the force of a mass uprising. In 1598, Campanella becomes the head of a conspiracy in Calabria against the Spaniards. After the defeat of the conspiracy, he was captured and sentenced to life imprisonment. During his almost 27-year stay in prison, he created dozens of works, including his own utopia. In the ideal communist community, which is represented by the city of the Sun, management is entrusted to a clergyman - a priest. This is a metaphysician, marked with a solar symbol. His assistants - Power, Wisdom and Love - deal with issues of war and peace, martial arts, liberal arts, sciences, education, birth control issues. Medicine, agriculture and animal husbandry. Thus, as in the "State" of Plato, in the ideal state of the Sun, philosophers and sages are at the head, regulating all aspects of the life of solariums. Political, secular power is intertwined with church, spiritual. Religion merges with the philosophy of nature, the task is to unite them. An essential point of his program is the worldwide unification of people, in which he sees the guarantee of delivering mankind from wars, famine, epidemics.

For all the historical limitations of the communist (“barracks” type) ideal of the Renaissance utopians, the humanists’ idea of ​​a just social order, the abolition of private property as a source of oppression of the people, the important role of science and education in the life of the people, the cessation of wars and the establishment of peace, turned out to be the property of subsequent centuries.

The Renaissance occupies a significant place in the history of philosophical thought. There was no other epoch in the history of philosophy that would affirm the human personality in its beauty and power with such force. The Renaissance is a period of self-affirmation of the personality - the creator, the artist. However, a separate isolated personality, on which renaissance thinking was based, was not a solid foundation for a comprehensive worldview. It was the dawn of a new bourgeois-capitalist formation based on the hypertrophy of entrepreneurship, and in the realm of the spirit, on the hypertrophy of subjectivism and naturalism, rationalism. In all areas of Renaissance culture, old ideas, traditions, concepts collide with new ones. The main feature of the philosophy of the Renaissance is its secular, earthly orientation. If the subject of medieval philosophy was God, now nature comes first. The mutual influence of developing experimental science and philosophy is extremely important for further development philosophy.

In general, the philosophy of the Renaissance created the basis for the philosophy of the New Age and represents a natural transition from medieval philosophical traditions to the philosophy of the New Age.

Control questions

Why was the philosophy of the epoch of the 14th-16th centuries called the Renaissance?

Formulate the main ideas of the philosophy of the Renaissance.

Determine the main directions of the philosophy of the Renaissance.

What was the humanism of the Italian writers Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio and others?

What explains and how is the apotheosis of art and the cult of the artist-creator at this time expressed?

What was new in the development of philosophical thought brought by the natural science of the Renaissance?

How is the problem of the relationship between the finite and the infinite solved in the philosophy of N. Cusa and J. Bruno?

What is the "Copernican revolution" in the views on the structure of the Universe after the discoveries of N. Copernicus?

What is the essence of M. Montaigne's ethics?

Is there any basis for the thesis that Machiavellianism is identical with immoralism?

Give an analysis of the religious revolution started by Martin Luther and called the Reformation.

What is common and what is the difference between the views of the Renaissance utopians Thomas More and Tommaso Campanella on the ideal structure of the state from the similar views of Plato?

What is common and what is the difference in the understanding of human nature in Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance?

What explains the fact that the social utopias of Mora, Campanella, and the works of Machiavelli attract the interest of contemporaries?

The philosophy of the Renaissance is considered as a transition from the Middle Ages to the New Age. Does it have its own content and specifics?

additional literature

Introduction to philosophy. In 2 hours. Part 1. M., 1989.

History of philosophy in brief. M., 1991.

Gorfunkel A. Kh. Philosophy of the Renaissance. M., 1980.

Losev A.F. Aesthetics of the Renaissance. M., 1978.

Dante Alighieri. The Divine Comedy. M., 1992.

Machiavelli N. Sovereign. SPb., 1869 and any other publications.

Montaigne M. Experiments. M., 1992.

More T. Utopia. M., 1978.

Pascal B. Thoughts. SPb., 1994.

Campanella T. City of the Sun. M., 1954.

Erasmus of Rotterdam. Praise stupidity. M., 1983.

Luther M. The time of silence has passed. Kharkov, 1992.

Porshnev BF Calvin and Calvinism // Issues of the history of religion and atheism. 1958. No. 6.

Kuzansky N. Op. in 2 vols. M., 1978.

Ortega y Gasset J. Mona Lisa // Philosophical Sciences. 1990. No. 5.

Rybka E. Nicolaus Copernicus. Warsaw, 1967.

Vernadsky V.I. Selected works on the history of science. M., 1981.

directions philosophy sciences of the twentieth century - neo-positivism and post-positivism - in philosophical categories historical and logical, material and formal. historical ...

The humanists included representatives of various professions: teachers - Filelfo, Poggio Bracciolini, Vittorino da Feltre, Leonardo Bruni; philosophers - Lorenzo Valla, Pico della Mirandola; writers - Petrarch, Boccaccio; artists - Alberti and others.

The work of Francesc Petrarca (1304-1374) and Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) represents an early period in the development of Italian humanism, which laid the foundations for a more integral and systematized worldview, which was developed by later thinkers.

Petrarch with extraordinary force revived interest in antiquity, especially in Homer. Thus, he laid the foundation for that revival of ancient antiquity, which was so characteristic of the entire Renaissance. At the same time, Petrarch formulated a new attitude towards art, opposite to that which underlay medieval aesthetics. For Petrarch, art had already ceased to be a simple craft and began to acquire a new, humanistic meaning. In this regard, Petrarch's treatise "Invective against a certain physician" is extremely interesting, representing a polemic with Salutati, who argued that medicine should be recognized as a higher art than poetry. This thought arouses Petrarch's angry protest. “Unheard of sacrilege,” he exclaims, “subordinating a mistress to a maid, free art to a mechanical one.” Rejecting the approach to poetry as a craft, Petrarch interprets it as a free, creative art. Of no less interest is Petrarch's treatise Remedies for Healing a Happy and Unhappy Fate, which depicts the struggle between reason and feeling in relation to the sphere of art and pleasure, and, in the end, a feeling close to earthly interests wins.

Another outstanding Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio played an equally important role in substantiating new aesthetic principles. The author of The Decameron devoted a quarter of a century to working on the main, as he considered, the work of his life, the theoretical treatise Genealogy of the Pagan Gods.

Of particular interest are the XIV and XV books of this extensive work, written in the "defense of poetry" against medieval attacks on it. These books, which gained immense popularity during the Renaissance, marked the beginning of a special genre of "poetry apology".

In essence, we observe here a polemic with medieval aesthetics. Boccaccio opposes accusing poetry and poets of immorality, excess, frivolity, deceit, etc. In contrast to medieval authors who reproached Homer and other ancient writers for depicting frivolous scenes, Boccaccio proves the poet's right to depict any plot.

Also unfair, according to Boccaccio, is the accusation of poets of lies. Poets do not lie, but only "weave fictions", they tell the truth under the cover of deceit or, more precisely, fiction. In this regard, Boccaccio passionately proves the right of poetry to fiction (inventi), the invention of the new. In the chapter "That poets are not false," Boccaccio says bluntly: poets "... are not bound by the obligation to keep the truth in the outward form of fiction; on the contrary, if we take away from them the right to freely use any kind of fiction, all the benefit of their labor will turn into dust.

Boccaccio calls poetry "divine science". Moreover, sharpening the conflict between poetry and theology, he declares theology itself a kind of poetry, because, like poetry, it refers to fiction and allegories.

In his apology for poetry, Boccaccio argued that its main qualities are passions (furor) and ingenuity (inventio). This attitude to poetry had nothing to do with the craft approach to art, it justified the freedom of the artist, his right to create.

Thus, already in the XIV century, early Italian humanists formed a new attitude towards art as a free occupation, as an activity of imagination and fantasy. All these principles formed the basis of the aesthetic theories of the 15th century.

A significant contribution to the development of the aesthetic worldview of the Renaissance was made by the Italian humanist educators, who created new system upbringing and education, focused on the ancient world and ancient philosophy.

In Italy, starting from the first decade of the 15th century, one after another, a whole series of treatises on education appeared, written by humanist educators: "On noble morals and free sciences" by Paolo Vergerio, "On the education of children and their good morals" by Matteo Vegio, " On Free Education” by Gianozzo Manetti, “On Scientific and Literary Studies” by Leonardo Bruni, “On the Order of Teaching and Studying” by Battisto Guarino, “Treatise on Free Education” by Aeneas Silvia Piccolomini and others. Eleven Italian treatises on pedagogy have come down to us. In addition, numerous letters of humanists are devoted to the topic of education. All this constitutes a vast heritage of humanistic thought.

In the Renaissance, a completely new type of Neoplatonism arises, which opposed medieval scholasticism and "scholasticized" Aristotelianism.

The first stages in the development of Neoplatonic aesthetics were associated with the name of Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464).

It should be noted that aesthetics was not just one of the areas of knowledge that Nicholas of Cusa addressed along with other disciplines. The peculiarity of the aesthetic teaching of Nicholas of Cusa lies in the fact that it was an organic part of his ontology, epistemology, and ethics. This synthesis of aesthetics with epistemology and ontology does not allow us to consider the aesthetic views of Nicholas of Cusa in isolation from his philosophy as a whole, and on the other hand, the aesthetics of Cusa reveals some important aspects of his teaching about the world and knowledge.

Nicholas of Cusa is the last thinker of the Middle Ages and the first philosopher of modern times. Therefore, in his aesthetics, the ideas of the Middle Ages and the new, Renaissance consciousness are peculiarly intertwined. From the Middle Ages, he borrows the "symbolism of numbers", the medieval idea of ​​the unity of micro and macrocosmos, the medieval definition of beauty as the "proportion" and "clarity" of color. However, he significantly rethinks and reinterprets the legacy of medieval aesthetic thought. The idea of ​​the numerical nature of beauty was not for Nicholas of Cusa a mere fantasy game - he sought to find confirmation of this idea with the help of mathematics, logic and empirical knowledge. The idea of ​​the unity of the micro- and macrocosm, in its interpretation, turned into the idea of ​​a high, almost divine destiny of the human personality. Finally, a completely new meaning is given in his interpretation of the traditional medieval formula about beauty as “proportion” and “clarity”.

Nicholas of Cusa develops his concept of beauty in his treatise On Beauty. Here he relies mainly on the Areopagitics and on Albert the Great's treatise On Goodness and Beauty, which is one of the commentaries on the Areopagitics. From the "Areopagitic" Nicholas of Cusa borrows the idea of ​​the emanation (origin) of beauty from the divine mind, of light as a prototype of beauty, etc. All these ideas of Neoplatonic aesthetics are expounded in detail by Nicholas of Cusa, providing them with comments.

The aesthetics of Nicholas of Cusa unfolds in full accordance with his ontology. The basis of being is the following dialectical trinity: complicatio - folding, explicatio - deployment and alternitas - otherness. This corresponds to the following elements - unity, difference and connection - which lie in the structure of everything in the world, including the basis of beauty.

In the treatise "On Beauty", Nicholas of Cusa considers beauty as a unity of three elements that correspond to the dialectical trinity of being. Beauty turns out to be, first of all, an infinite unity of form, which manifests itself in the form of proportion and harmony. Secondly, this unity unfolds and gives rise to the difference between goodness and beauty, and, finally, a connection arises between these two elements: realizing itself, beauty gives rise to something new - love as the final and highest point of beauty.

Nicholas of Cusa interprets this love in the spirit of Neoplatonism as an ascent from the beauty of sensual things to a higher, spiritual beauty. Love, says Nicholas of Cusa, is the ultimate goal of beauty, "our concern should be to ascend from the beauty of sensual things to the beauty of our spirit ...".

Thus, the three elements of beauty correspond to the three stages of the development of being: unity, difference and connection. Unity appears in the form of proportion, difference - in the transition of beauty into goodness, communication is carried out through love.

Such is the teaching of Nicholas of Cusa about beauty. It is quite obvious that this teaching is closely connected with the philosophy and aesthetics of Neoplatonism.

The aesthetics of Neoplatonism significantly influenced not only the theory, but also the practice of art. Studies of the philosophy and art of the Renaissance have shown close connection aesthetics of Neoplatonism and the work of outstanding Italian artists (Raphael, Botticelli, Titian and others). Neoplatonism revealed to the art of the Renaissance the beauty of nature as a reflection of spiritual beauty, aroused interest in human psychology, discovered dramatic collisions of spirit and body, the struggle of feeling and reason. Without the disclosure of these contradictions and collisions, the art of the Renaissance could not have achieved that deepest sense of inner harmony, which is one of the most significant features of the art of this era.

The well-known Italian humanist philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) adjoined the Platonic Academy. He touches upon the problems of aesthetics in his famous "Speech on the Dignity of Man", written in 1486 as an introduction to the debate he proposed with the participation of all European philosophers, and in "Comments on the Canzone on Love by Girolamo Benivieni", read at one of the meetings of the Platonic Academy .

In the Oration on the Dignity of Man, Pico develops a humanist conception of the human person. Man has free will, he is in the center of the universe, and it depends on him whether he rises to the height of a deity or descends to the level of an animal. In the work of Pico della Mirandola, God addresses Adam with the following parting words: “We do not give you, O Adam, neither your place, nor a certain image, nor a special obligation, so that you have a place, a person, and a duty of your own free will, according to his will and his decision. The image of other creations is determined within the limits of the laws we have established. But you, not constrained by any limits, will determine your image according to your decision, in the power of which I leave you. I put you in the center of the world, so that from there it would be more convenient for you to survey everything that is in the world. I did not make you either heavenly or earthly, neither mortal nor immortal, so that you yourself ... formed yourself in the image that you prefer.

Thus, Pico della Mirandola forms in this work a completely new concept of the human personality. He says that a person himself is a creator, a master of his own image. Humanistic thought puts man at the center of the universe, speaks of the unlimited possibilities for the development of the human personality.

The idea of ​​the dignity of the human person, deeply developed by Pico della Mirandola, firmly entered the philosophical and aesthetic consciousness of the Renaissance. The outstanding artists of the Renaissance drew their optimism and enthusiasm from it.

A more detailed system of aesthetic views of Pico della Mirandola is contained in Girolamo Benivieni's Commentary on the Love Canzone.

This treatise is closely related to the Neoplatonic tradition. Like most of the writings of the Italian Neoplatonists, it is devoted to Plato's teaching on the nature of love, and love is interpreted in a broad philosophical sense. Pico defines it as "the desire for beauty", thus linking Platonic ethics and cosmology with aesthetics, with the doctrine of beauty and the harmonious structure of the world.

The doctrine of harmony, therefore, occupies a central place in this philosophical treatise. Speaking about the concept of beauty, Pico della Mirandola states the following: “With a wide and general meaning The term "beauty" is associated with the concept of harmony. Thus, it is said that God created the whole world in a musical and harmonic composition, but just as the term "harmony" in a broad sense can be used to denote the composition of any creation, and in its proper sense it means only the merging of several voices into a melody, so beauty can be called the proper composition of any thing, although its proper meaning applies only to things visible, like harmony - to things audible.

Pico della Mirandola was characterized by a pantheistic understanding of harmony, which he interpreted as the unity of the micro- and macrocosm. "... A person in his various properties has a connection and similarity with all parts of the world and for this reason is usually called a microcosm - a small world."

But, speaking in the spirit of the Neoplatonists about the meaning and role of harmony, about its connection with beauty, with the structure of nature and the cosmos, Mirandola to a certain extent departs from Ficino and other Neoplatonists in understanding the essence of harmony. For Ficino, the source of beauty is in God or in the soul of the world, which serve as a prototype for all nature and all things that exist in the world. Mirandola rejects this view. Moreover, he even enters into a direct polemic with Ficino, refuting his opinion about the divine origin of the world soul. In his opinion, the role of the creator god is limited only to the creation of the mind - this "incorporeal and reasonable" nature. To everything else - to the soul, love, beauty - God no longer has any relation: "... according to the Platonists, the philosopher says, - God did not directly produce any other creation, except for the first mind."

Thus, the concept of God in Pico della Mirandola is closer to the Aristotelian concept of the prime mover than to Platonic idealism.

The center of the development of the aesthetic thought of the Renaissance in the 15th century was the aesthetics of the greatest Italian artist and humanist thinker Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472).

In numerous works of Alberti, among which were works on the theory of art, the pedagogical essay "On the Family", the moral and philosophical treatise "On the Peace of the Soul", a significant place is occupied by humanistic views. Like most humanists, Alberti shared an optimistic idea about the limitless possibilities of human knowledge, about the divine destiny of man, about his omnipotence and exceptional position in the world. Alberti's humanistic ideals were reflected in his treatise "On the Family", in which he wrote that nature "created man in part heavenly and divine, in part the most beautiful among the entire mortal world ... she gave him mind, understanding, memory and reason - properties divine and at the same time necessary in order to distinguish and understand what should be avoided and what should be striven for in order to better preserve ourselves. This idea, in many ways anticipating the idea of ​​Pico della Mirandola's treatise On the Dignity of Man, pervades all of Alberti's work as an artist, scientist and thinker.

Engaged mainly in artistic practice, especially architecture, Alberti, however, paid much attention to the theory of art. In his treatises - "On Painting", "On Architecture", "On Sculpture" - along with specific issues of the theory of painting, sculpture and architecture, general issues of aesthetics were widely reflected.

It should immediately be noted that Alberti's aesthetics does not represent some kind of complete and logically integral system. Separate aesthetic statements are scattered throughout Alberti's writings, and quite a lot of work is required to somehow collect and systematize them. In addition, Alberti's aesthetics are not only philosophical discussions about the essence of beauty and art. In Alberti we find a wide and consistent development of the so-called "practical aesthetics", that is, the aesthetics arising from the application of general aesthetic principles to specific questions of art. All this allows us to consider Alberti as one of the largest representatives of the aesthetic thought of the early Renaissance.

The theoretical source of Alberti's aesthetics was mainly the aesthetic thought of antiquity. The ideas on which Alberti draws in his theory of art and aesthetics are many and varied. This is the aesthetics of the Stoics with its demands to imitate nature, with the ideals of expediency, the unity of beauty and utility. From Cicero, in particular, Alberti borrows the distinction between beauty and adornment, developing this idea into a special theory of jewelry. From Vitruvius, Alberti compares a work of art with the human body and the proportions of the human body. But the main theoretical source of Alberti's aesthetic theory is, undoubtedly, the aesthetics of Aristotle with its principle of harmony and measure as the basis of beauty. From Aristotle, Alberti takes the idea of ​​a work of art as a living organism, from him he borrows the idea of ​​the unity of matter and form, purpose and means, the harmony of part and whole. Alberti repeats and develops Aristotle’s idea of ​​artistic perfection (“when nothing can be added, subtracted, or changed without making it worse”). This whole complex set of ideas, deeply comprehended and tested in the practice of contemporary art, underlies Alberti’s aesthetic theory .

At the center of Alberti's aesthetics is the doctrine of beauty. Alberti speaks about the nature of the beautiful in two books of his treatise On Architecture - the sixth and ninth. These arguments, despite their laconic nature, contain a completely new interpretation of the nature of the beautiful.

It should be noted that in the aesthetics of the Middle Ages, the dominant definition of beauty was the formula of beauty as "consonantia et claritas", that is, the proportion and clarity of light. This formula, originating in early patristics, was dominant until the 14th century, especially in scholastic aesthetics. In accordance with this definition, beauty was understood as a formal unity of "proportion" and "brilliance", mathematically interpreted harmony and clarity of color.

Alberti, although he attached great importance to the mathematical basis of art, does not reduce, as medieval aesthetics does, beauty to mathematical proportion. According to Alberti, the essence of beauty lies in harmony. To designate the concept of harmony, Alberti resorts to the old term "concinnitas", borrowed by him from Cicero.

According to Alberti, there are three elements that make up the beauty of architecture. These are number (numerus), limitation (finitio) and placement (collocatio). But beauty is more than these three formal elements. “There is something more,” says Alberti, “composed of the combination and connection of all these three things, something that miraculously illuminates the whole face of beauty. This we shall call harmony (concinnitas), which is without a doubt the source of all charm and beauty. After all, the purpose and purpose of harmony is to arrange parts, generally speaking, different in nature, by some perfect ratio so that they correspond to one another, creating beauty. And not so much in the whole body as a whole or in its parts, harmony lives, but in itself and in its nature, so that I would call it a participant in the soul and mind. And there is a vast field for it, where it can manifest itself and flourish: it embraces all human life, pervades the whole nature of things. For everything that nature produces is all proportionate to the law of harmony. And nature has no greater concern than that what it produces be completely perfect. This cannot be achieved without harmony, because without it the higher harmony of the parts breaks up.

In this reasoning Alberti should highlight the following points.

First of all, it is obvious that Alberti abandons the medieval understanding of beauty as "the proportion and clarity of color", returning, in fact, to the ancient idea of ​​beauty as a certain harmony. He replaces the two-term beauty formula "consonantia et claritas" with a single-term one: beauty is the harmony of parts.

In itself, this harmony is not only the law of art, but also the law of life, it "penetrates the whole nature of things" and "encompasses the whole life of a person." Harmony in art is a reflection of the universal harmony of life.

Harmony is the source and condition of perfection; without harmony no perfection is possible either in life or in art.

Harmony consists in the correspondence of parts, and in such a way that nothing can be added or subtracted. Here Alberti follows the ancient definitions of beauty as harmony and proportion. “Beauty,” he says, “is a strict proportionate harmony of all parts, united by what they belong to, such that nothing can be added, subtracted, or changed without making it worse.”

Harmony in art consists of various elements. In music, the elements of harmony are rhythm, melody and composition, in sculpture - measure (dimensio) and border (definitio). Alberti associated his concept of "beauty" with the concept of "decoration" (ornamentum). According to him, the distinction between beauty and decoration should be understood by feeling rather than expressed in words. But still, he draws the following distinction between these concepts: “... decoration is, as it were, a kind of secondary light of beauty, or, so to speak, its addition. For from what has been said, I think it is clear that beauty, as something inherent and innate in the body, is diffused over the whole body to the extent that it is beautiful; and the adornment is more of the nature of the attached than the innate.

The internal logic of Alberti's thought shows that "decoration" is not something external to the beautiful, but constitutes its organic part. After all, any building, according to Alberti, without decorations will be “erroneous”. Strictly speaking, in Alberti "beauty" and "decoration" are two independent types of beauty. Only "beauty" is the internal law of beauty, while "decoration" is added from the outside and in this sense it can be a relative or accidental form of beauty. With the concept of “decoration”, Alberti introduced into the understanding of the beautiful the moment of relativity, subjective freedom.

Along with the concept of “beauty” and “decoration”, Alberti also uses a number of aesthetic concepts, borrowed, as a rule, from ancient aesthetics. He associates the concept of beauty with dignity (dignitas) and grace (venustas), following directly on Cicero, for whom dignity and grace are two kinds of (male and female) beauty. Alberti connects the beauty of a building with "necessity and convenience", developing the Stoic idea of ​​the relationship between beauty and usefulness. Alberti also uses the terms "charm" and "attractiveness". All this testifies to the diversity, breadth and flexibility of his aesthetic thinking. The desire to differentiate aesthetic concepts, to the creative application of the principles and concepts of ancient aesthetics to modern artistic practice is distinctive feature Alberti aesthetics.

It is characteristic how Alberti interprets the concept of "ugly". Beautiful for him is an absolute object of art. The ugly acts only as a certain kind of mistake. Hence the demand that art should not correct, but hide ugly and ugly objects. “Ugly-looking parts of the body and others like them, not particularly elegant, let them cover themselves with clothes, some kind of branch or hand. The ancients painted the portrait of Antigonus only on one side of his face, on which the eye was not gouged out. They also say that Pericles had a long and ugly head, and therefore, unlike others, he was portrayed by painters and sculptors in a helmet.

The problems of aesthetics occupy a significant place in the writings of the famous Italian philosopher, one of the founders of utopian socialism, Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639).

Campanella entered the history of science, primarily as the author of the famous utopia "City of the Sun". At the same time, he made a significant contribution to Italian natural philosophical thought. He owns important philosophical works: "Philosophy Proven by Sensations", "Real Philosophy", "Rational Philosophy", "Metaphysics". A significant place in these works is occupied by questions of aesthetics. So, in "Metaphysics" there is a special chapter - "On the beautiful." In addition, Campanella owns a small essay "Poetics", dedicated to the analysis of poetic creativity.

The aesthetic views of Campanella are distinguished by their originality. First of all, Campanella sharply opposes the scholastic tradition, both in the field of philosophy and aesthetics. He criticizes all authorities in the field of philosophy, rejecting equally both the "myths of Plato" and the "fictions" of Aristotle. In the field of aesthetics, this criticism characteristic of Campanella is manifested, first of all, in the refutation of the traditional doctrine of the harmony of the spheres, in the assertion that this harmony does not agree with the data of sensory knowledge. “In vain, Plato and Pythagoras represent the harmony of the world like our music - they go crazy in this, like someone who would attribute our sensations of taste and smell to the universe. If there is harmony in heaven and among the angels, then it has other bases and consonances than fifth, fourth or octave.

At the heart of the aesthetic teachings of Campanella is hylozoism - the doctrine of the universal animation of nature. Sensations are embedded in matter itself, otherwise, according to Campanella, the world would immediately "turn into chaos." That is why the main property of all being is the desire for self-preservation. In humans, this desire is associated with pleasure. "Pleasure is a feeling of self-preservation, while suffering is a feeling of evil and destruction." The sense of beauty is also associated with a sense of self-preservation, a sense of fullness of life and health. “When we see people who are healthy, full of life, free, well-dressed, we rejoice, because we experience a feeling of happiness and the preservation of our nature.”

The original concept of beauty is developed by Campanella in the essay "On the Beautiful". Here he does not follow any of the leading aesthetic trends of the Renaissance - Aristotelianism or Neoplatonism.

Refusing to look at beauty as harmony or proportion, Campanella revives Socrates' idea that beauty is a certain kind of expediency. The beautiful, according to Campanella, arises as the correspondence of an object to its purpose, its function. “Everything that is good for the use of a thing is called beautiful if it shows signs of such use. A sword is said to be beautiful that bends and does not remain bent, and one that cuts and pricks and has a length sufficient to inflict wounds. But if it is so long and heavy that it cannot be moved, it is called ugly. A sickle that is fit for cutting is called beautiful, therefore it is more beautiful when it is made of iron and not of gold. In the same way, a mirror is beautiful when it reflects its true appearance, and not when it is golden.

Thus, the beauty of Campanella is functional. It lies not in a beautiful appearance, but in internal expediency. That is why beauty is relative. What is beautiful in one respect is ugly in another. “So the doctor calls that rhubarb beautiful that is suitable for cleansing, and ugly that is not suitable. A melody beautiful at a feast is ugly at a funeral. Yellowness is beautiful in gold, because it testifies to its natural dignity and perfection, but it is ugly in our eyes, because it speaks of damage to the eye and illness.

All these arguments largely repeat the provisions of ancient dialectics. Using the tradition coming from Socrates, Campanella develops the dialectical concept of beauty. This concept does not reject the ugly in art, but includes it as a correlative moment of beauty.

Beautiful and ugly are relative terms. Campanella expresses a typical Renaissance view, believing that the ugly is not contained in the essence of being itself, in nature itself. “Just as there is no essential evil, but every thing by its nature is good, although for others it is evil, for example, as heat is for cold, so there is no essential ugliness in the world, but only in relation to those to whom it indicates evil. Therefore, the enemy seems ugly to his enemy, and beautiful to his friend. In nature, however, there is evil as a defect and a kind of violation of purity, which attracts things that come from the idea to non-existence; and, as said, ugliness in essences is a sign of this lack and violation of purity.

Thus, the ugly appears in Campanella as just a certain defect, a certain violation of the usual order of things. The purpose of art is, therefore, to correct the deficiency of nature. This is the art of imitation. “Art, after all,” says Campanella, “is the imitation of nature. The hell described in Dante's poem is called more beautiful than the paradise described there, because, imitating, he showed more skill in one case than in another - although in reality heaven is beautiful, hell is terrible.

In general, Campanella's aesthetics contains principles that sometimes go beyond the boundaries of Renaissance aesthetics; the connection of beauty with utility, with the social feelings of a person, the assertion of the relativity of beauty - all these provisions testify to the maturation of new aesthetic principles in the aesthetics of the Renaissance.

Each figure of Humanism embodied or tried to bring his theories to life. Humanists not only believed in a renewed happy intellectual society, but also tried to build this society on their own, organizing schools and giving lectures, explaining their theories to ordinary people. Humanism covered almost all spheres of human life.