Philosophy of the Renaissance or the first manifestations of anthropocentrism in philosophy

From the beginning of the XV century in the history of Western Europe, a transitional era begins, which creates its brilliant culture. At this time, the disintegration of the feudal and the development of the capitalist system begins: luxury cities are developing in Italy, one after another, there are the greatest historical discoveries - firearms, the beginning of printing, cartography and geography are emerging as scientific disciplines. In mathematics, symbolic designations are introduced, medical chemistry continues its development in the knowledge of the chemical phenomena of the human body and the study of medicines. Enormous progress at this time is achieved by astronomy, Vasco da Gama opens the sea route to India, Columbus finds America, and Magellan proves the sphericity of the earth, setting off on the first round-the-world journey.

However, the most important discovery at this time is the overthrow of the dictatorship of the church, a new Renaissance philosophy is being formed, and this is what gave a special impetus to the flowering of culture. The feudal asceticism of the ghostly world was forever buried under new trends, the basis of which was the anthropocentrism of Renaissance philosophy. A reasonable person woke up from a long dream and was ready to create for the good of his homeland, it is no accident that at this time the creative formation of the greatest Italian poets of that time takes place: Petrarch, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Rabelais, Boccaccio.

The philosophy of the Renaissance was formed under the influence of the greatest people of the time, talented artists, architects and sculptors made their contribution to the development of the new empire. Leonardo da Vinci dedicates his best works to his greatness - the Human Reasonable. As the author of the unsurpassed "Gioconda" and "The Last Supper" he exerts a tremendous influence on the aesthetic principles of the Renaissance. The paintings of Michelangelo Buonarroti were equally strong in energy at the time, they, like his sculptures, exalted the spiritual and physical beauty of man, his enormous inner potential. At the same time, a new revival architecture is being formed, which reaches unprecedented heights, because of the breadth of the flight of creative thought.

The whole philosophy of the Renaissance is imbued with the recognition of man as an independent person and affirms his right to manifest his abilities and free personal growth. The first stage of the Renaissance took place as free-thinking, opposed to the spiritual domination of the church and medieval scholasticism. The ancient philosophical heritage is mastered and restored in full, the philosophical schools, so unfairly forgotten in the Middle Ages, are being reopened. They are freed from the scholastic shell and the works of the great ancient philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, are rethought . The philosophy of the Renaissance does not call for asceticism, repentance, obedience to the will of God, but even on the contrary glorifies any initiative in the field of creativity and personal development. The desire to gain power over one's destiny is no longer feudal or even Christian ideas, it is the germs of a new bourgeois system.

A special place in the philosophy of the Renaissance is Nikolai Kuzansky, unlike other humanists, he devoted a great deal of time to mathematics and natural science and even created a special direction in the philosophy of that time - Christian naturalistic pantheism. The concept of this doctrine is that God exists in the world and the world exists in God, and since God is absolutely infinite and unlimited, it means that the world is also infinite and any border in it can be freely crossed. The consequence of this doctrine is a great revolution in the worldview of Europeans, the geocentric picture of the development of the universe is collapsing and a new stage in the development of the philosophy and science of the Renaissance begins.