The background of the Renaissance

After the demise of classical civilization, the medieval Western European civilization, which was established by savage Germans combined with Roman factors, presented a dark scene of early civilization. It was the Roman Christian church that baptized the savage Germans and brought the light of civilization to Europe. The bishops and monks of the early Christian church shouted the slogan "Work is prayer" in the economic recovery of the Middle Ages, which led people to reclaim wasteland and develop production and played a positive role. After hundreds of years of hard work, Europe's economy quickly recovered and surpassed the level of the Roman Empire. /kloc-After the third century, with the economic growth, the emergence of nation-states, the progress of education, and the growth of secular culture, a positive and optimistic attitude towards life gradually swept away the gloom of pessimism and despair that has shrouded people's hearts for a long time. People began to look forward to the future life. The original ascetic preaching of Catholicism is no longer attractive. The emerging bourgeoisie, which grew up in the new commodity economy, was no longer satisfied with the social reality at that time. They want change and a new life. At the very least, they demand that they should not be disturbed or obstructed when pursuing their own happiness and satisfying their own desires. They are dissatisfied with the existing culture, but they are too young to create a new culture to replace the old medieval Catholic culture they hate. While hesitating, they came across some books on ancient Greek and Roman culture that had been dusty for a long time. Greek and Roman culture, which is full of strong concern for human real life, deeply attracts these emerging bourgeoisie, who are willing to seek their own liberation banner from the ideological treasure house of classical culture. Thus, a "Renaissance" movement, which formally revived classical culture but actually advocated bourgeois new culture, began vigorously.

In fact, since modern times, almost every great progress of western civilization has benefited from the influence of classical civilization. The educational ideal of humanism in Renaissance is: "to enrich and cultivate people's minds through contact with Greek and Roman documents. This ideal has been passed down to19th century, and it is not completely out of date. Perhaps, as long as western civilization exists, this ideal will not die. ...... The classic works of ancient times are unparalleled, and even more unparalleled-this view is almost unquestionable. " Karl Karl jaspers, a German existentialist philosopher, once wrote: "We attribute the foundation of westerners' all-round development to the fact that the classical world is in the west, and every great improvement of self is caused by re-contacting the classical world." [1] This may be one of the main reasons why this ideological liberation movement appeared in the form of Renaissance.

Connotation of Humanism and Praise of Human Nature

Humanism Humanism refers to an attitude that people and their values come first, which is usually regarded as the theme of Renaissance culture. Renaissance humanism originated from14th century Italian humanist Petrarch. He is proficient in and enthusiastically advocates Latin classical literature, which has influenced all parts of western Europe from Italy. Later, people gradually think that humanism is nothing more than teaching classical literature, but it is more appropriate to say that all attitudes that attach importance to the relationship between man and god, man's free will and man's superiority to nature are humanism. Philosophically speaking, humanism measures everything by human standards. [②]

During the Renaissance (14th century-17th century), the performance of humanism began with affirming human desires and praising natural humanity. The "Three Masters" in the Early Italian Renaissance-Dante (1265- 132 1 year), Petrarch (1304- 1374) and Boccaccio (/kloc-0) Decameron tells the story of 10 young men and women who lived in a villa on the outskirts of Florence for 14 days, in which 10 days each told a story in turn every day. These stories involve all kinds of characters, such as kings, nobles, monks, queens, ladies, servants, wool comb workers, loan sharks, pawns and so on. These characters have their own personality characteristics, and the stories that have happened also show all kinds of human beings. For the first time since the Middle Ages, European literature has reflected such a broad picture of social life with realistic brushstrokes. A modern Italian literary critic once called decameron and Dante's Divine Comedy "Renqu". In the book, Boccaccio eulogizes human nature with vivid stories, and thinks that human nature is everywhere, irresistible and unavoidable. At the beginning of the story on the fourth day, he specially arranged such an episode, which was intriguing: a young man who had been isolated from the world since childhood followed his father down the mountain and went to town, and met a group of beautifully dressed young girls on the way. The young man asked his father what these things were. The father who believes in God replied: It's all disasters, called green geese. And told his son to lower his head and keep his eyes on the ground, not to look. But the son said, "Dear Dad, let me take a green goose home." Although this is the first time for the young man to go to town, he instinctively feels that among many new things he sees, the most beautiful and attractive one is the "Green Goose". Then the old man realized that the power of nature was much stronger than his teaching! Then, Boccaccio expressed his profound humanistic sigh: "Anyone who wants to stop human nature must master some skills." If you have to fight, you will not only waste your energy, but also be beaten to death. [3] Boccaccio also borrowed books to express the concept of human equality: "Our human flesh and blood are all made of the same substance, and our souls are all given by God, with the same function and the same utility. We human beings are born equal, and only morality is the standard to distinguish human beings, so those who play a big role deserve to be' expensive'; Otherwise, it can only be regarded as' squatting'. " [④]

Renaissance, the ideological emancipation movement, also had a development process from primary to advanced. Although "decameron" eulogizes human nature, most of it focuses on the instinct of human nature and talks about the love between men and women. As the tallest animal in the biological population, human beings should have higher pursuits. With the development of the movement, the Renaissance also showed elegance from vulgarity to elegance. Shakespeare (1564- 16 16) is a great British playwright and an outstanding representative of the Renaissance. Shakespeare's works describe, express and depict the complex inner world of human beings with elegant and fluent language, rich and delicate emotions and profound philosophy. Praise the kindness and friendship of human beings and enhance the dignity and dignity of human nature. He wrote in Hamlet: "What a great masterpiece human beings are! How noble reason is! How infinite talent is! What an elegant move! How like an angel! What a wise god! The essence of the universe! The spirit of all things! " [⑤]

Scientific progress during the Renaissance.

Renaissance seems to reproduce the ancient "axis era", which was an era when giants were needed and produced. This great era not only produced modern western humanism, but also gave birth to many scientific giants on the basis of inheriting nominalism. These include Nicholas of Coussa and Bruno who was burned to death by the Catholic Inquisition in Rome Flower Square to defend the truth. What attracts us most is the mysterious Da Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci is not only a master of art, but also a scientist! He has many scientific creations and inventions: he first put forward the concepts of lever principle and hydraulics, and designed many artifacts that we used to think of as contemporary civilization, such as textile machines, airplanes, submarines, parachutes and so on. He wrote more than 5000 pages of notes and recorded his feelings and research results, but unfortunately these notes were not completely preserved. However, we can still appreciate Leonardo da Vinci's rich philosophical thoughts and shocking scientific imagination from the remnants of these notes.

Almost all these giants in science believe that the object of human knowledge is nature. Experience is a bridge between man and nature. Experience is the mother of all reliable knowledge. There is nothing wrong with experience, what is wrong is our judgment. Knowledge that does not come from experience, such as God, soul and other things that deviate from the senses, are illusory and particularly suspicious. What we really need is experience, not what others say. [6] This emphasis on human experience directly led to the scientific revolution in 16 and 17 centuries, which in turn led to the revolution in the field of philosophy and laid the foundation for the later Enlightenment.

Second, the religious reform

The influence of the Renaissance in Europe at that time was limited to the upper class and the intellectual class. For the broad masses of the people, it is impossible to have the ability and conditions to read Greek and Latin classics and participate in the "revival" of this culture. They joined the ideological liberation movement more through the religious reform.

1, priest theory and Catholic corruption

As mentioned earlier, after13rd century, with the end of European settlement movement and economic development, people generally showed a tendency to love life. There is no problem for secular people to love life, but there is a problem for Christian priests to love secular life. At that time, there were widespread phenomena of collecting money, marrying priests, stealing mistresses and whoring in European Catholic churches. In order to legalize the accumulation of wealth, the church created the so-called "priest theory". Pastoral theory means that mortals have no right to communicate directly with God. In order to achieve the purpose of atonement and blessing, mortals must get in touch with God through religious ceremonies presided over by priests and by buying and offering a large number of sacrifices. The Roman Catholic Church used this theory to sell a large number of "sacred objects". A piece of broken wood said to be the wreckage of Noah's ark can be sold by the church at a high price. It is said that the residue of Noah's Ark at that time could be used to build several Noah's Arks. It is said that there are dozens of shoulder bones of the donkey that Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem. The greed and shamelessness of the church aroused many people's dissatisfaction, and the prestige of the Roman Catholic church plummeted. The corruption of the Roman Catholic church and people's dissatisfaction with the church eventually led to the religious reform movement in Europe.

Martin Luther and Protestantism.

Germany in the Middle Ages was always in a state of economic dispersion and political division. The Roman Catholic Church has the greatest power in Germany and the greatest exploitation and oppression to Germany. At that time, there was a proverb that "Germany is the Pope's cow". Therefore, the Reformation first appeared in Germany.

15 17, the pope sold a large number of so-called "atonement rolls" in the name of repairing St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. Monks claim that when the money to buy atonement rolls clinks in the till, it is the day when the soul ascends to heaven. This shameless lie and blatant search aroused the indignation of people from all walks of life in Germany. Martin Luther (1483- 1546), a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg who worked as a priest, wrote everyone's opinions as an "Outline of the Ninth Five-Year Plan" and posted them at the entrance of Wittenberg Cathedral, which caused a debate about the "Atonement Volume".

Luther pointed out that the salvation of human soul does not need the intermediary of priests, nor can it rely on buying atonement books from the church, but on one's own devout faith. Luther advocated that everyone has the right to read and understand the Bible, and everyone can communicate directly with God and talk directly with God. Luther emphasized that the purpose of the Bible is to declare that Christians are free. For Christians, freedom is the most sacred word of God and the gospel of Christ. The Bible stands for reason and freedom of thought. Luther's thoughts and ideas triggered a vigorous religious reform movement in Germany and Europe.

Although Martin Luther showed great conservatism in the later religious reform movement, the religious reform movement he initiated was still of revolutionary significance: he founded a new Christianity-Lutheranism in Germany and even Europe. Protestants hold church services in German instead of Latin; Protestantism abandoned the church system composed of popes, bishops and priests, denying that they were the owners of the keys to heaven; Protestantism abolished the temple system, advocated humanized life, and insisted that priests had the right to marry; Protestantism simplifies religious etiquette and eliminates the gap between priests and laymen. Finally, Protestantism denies the idea that the church is higher than the state and believes that the church should belong to the state.

Religious reform spread and developed humanism revived since the Renaissance from a broader social level and a more internal spiritual level, liberated Western Europeans from the long-term Christian theocracy, and made ideological preparations for the arrival of the Enlightenment.

3. Similarities and differences between Renaissance and Reformation.

There are many similarities between the Renaissance and the Reformation, but there are also obvious differences. First of all, both of them are the products of the strong individualistic trend of thought that destroyed the existing order in the 14 and 15 centuries. Secondly, they have similar economic backgrounds: the rise of capitalism and the emergence of bourgeois society. Third, both of them have the nature of returning to the early roots: first, returning to the literary and artistic achievements of Greece and Rome; The other is to return to the Bible and the teachings explained by early Christian writers. But the Reformation was by no means part of the Renaissance. There are great differences in guiding principles between the two. The essence of Renaissance is that lovers love nature and put religion in a subordinate position. The spirit of the Reformation is to despise the present concept of the afterlife. Treat worldly things as inferior to spiritual things. Humanists generally believe that human nature is good; Religious reformers believe that human nature is extremely corrupt. Renaissance leaders believed in moderation and tolerance; Followers of Luther and Calvin emphasized faith and obedience. [⑦]

Third, enlightenment.

1, the ideological basis of the Enlightenment-from scientific revolution to philosophical revolution

The emphasis on human experience has led to a series of new scientific instruments. 1590, the first synthetic microscope appeared, 1608, the telescope was invented. Then, barometer and air pump appeared. Galileo (1564—— 1642) discovered that satellites revolve around Jupiter, and Harvey (1578—— 1657) discovered blood circulation. What is more striking is that Copernicus (1473- 1543) expounded Heliocentrism and overthrew the Ptolemaic geocentric theory that people believed for thousands of years. The most remarkable contribution of scientific revolution lies not only in the appearance of new tools and discoveries, but also in the discovery of new scientific methods. Francisco Bacon (1561-1626) is the most prominent one. He advocates the marriage of experience and reason. He pointed out that narrow empiricists are only busy collecting materials without processing and refining them, and they are lost in understanding because they refuse to use the concept of * * * *. The rationalist school (the rationalist school here refers to the school based on Aristotle's deductive logic system from general deduction to individual deduction) is easy to fall into abstract fantasy and introduce unrealistic dogmas and theories. To this end, Bacon advocated that a truly legal marriage must always be built between the ability of experience and the ability of reason. Therefore, he invented scientific induction, emphasizing the importance of observation and inductive reasoning. When the new field of mathematics, especially calculus, develops, the methods of observation and mathematical operation become the most prominent features of modern science. The application of scientific methods makes those thinkers and scientists realize that people can get the truth about nature as long as the methods are proper. Bacon put forward that inspiring slogan: "Knowledge is power". Descartes, a French philosopher who was almost contemporary with Bacon, continued to explain all his philosophy by deduction. He has a famous saying: "I think, therefore I am", which emphasizes the independence and certainty of rationality, thus establishing rationalism philosophy. Later, Spinoza of the Netherlands (1632- 1677) and Leibniz of Germany (1646- 17 16) popularized rationalism philosophy. These thoughts laid the foundation of the Enlightenment.

2. The connotation of the Enlightenment

The Enlightenment was an ideological movement and belief movement widely supported by European intellectuals in 17 and 18 centuries. It studies various interrelated concepts such as God, reason, nature and human beings.

..... In theory, the thinkers of the Enlightenment first discussed the relationship between reason and emotion, and finally talked about the legal system. Enlightenment thought generally includes humanitarianism, social thought and historical view. In humanitarianism, the thinkers of the Enlightenment found that human beings have the same attributes, and then turned from the inherent phenomenon of human society to the phenomenon that human society should have, thus criticizing and advocating improvement, and then advocating reform. The harsh laws of European countries have been attacked. People of color are sympathized with. Swiss jurist De Vatra advocates that all countries live in peace and abide by the ethical principles of natural law. Finally, in 1795, Kant issued an appeal "for permanent peace". In terms of social thought, the Enlightenment was manifested in various fields such as political thought, law and economic theory. In terms of political thought, the British philosopher Hobbes put forward the theory of social contract. 1762, Rousseau's On Civil Contract was published in Paris. The legal thought of the Enlightenment was finally embodied in Prussian Code, Austrian Code and Napoleonic Code. In economic theory, French economist BuaGilbert opposes state intervention in economic life and advocates free competition. From 65438 to 0776, Adam Smith published Primitive Wealth, which advocated observing the laws of nature and respecting individual freedom, but also required the government to help the weak and restrain the strong. In the view of history, Bacon first put forward a new method to explain history. He opposes the theory of historical cycle and thinks that human beings are constantly advancing. [⑧]

3 the promotion of rationality

Enlightenment originated from the new requirements of western nations for freedom of thought, and was the result of the further development of the Renaissance ideological emancipation movement. On the one hand, it stems from the maturity of western nations and the needs of social development, on the other hand, it stems from the self-confidence brought by the rapid development of natural science and the subsequent worship of human rationality. The theoretical expression of the Enlightenment is rationalism, which is the deepening and concretization of humanism in the Renaissance. At this time, people have developed from the worship of human beings to the worship of reason, because human beings can perfectly understand the whole world by virtue of reason. Thinkers in the Enlightenment are far luckier and more confident than those in the early Renaissance. Because humanists in the early Renaissance felt quite inferior and even ashamed of the brilliant achievements of classical culture. But in the past 300 years, the face of Europe has undergone earth-shaking changes: the formation of nation-States, the opening of new air routes, the rapid development of economy, and the leap-forward progress of science and technology ... All these achievements have not been achieved by the guidance of God or the inspiration of God's will, but by human beings' constant exploration and creation with their own rationality and wisdom. They are very optimistic that today is far better than yesterday, and tomorrow will be better than today! The Enlightenment started in Britain and France, then spread to Germany and Holland, and many thinkers emerged. They all take rationalism as their ideological weapon and point their criticism at feudalism, thus paving the way for bourgeois revolution directly. Under the guidance of the Enlightenment, a vigorous bourgeois revolution took place in Europe, which overthrew the feudal autocratic rule, established a modern European country, and even gave birth to a new country-the United States.

Enlightenment thinkers opposed religious superstition and advocated science. They tried to secularize human life and open an era of secularization and rationality. They care about society and hope to reflect a bright era of democracy and science with the brilliance of rationality. The Enlightenment widely publicized and practiced the core values of western natural law theory, such as natural human rights, freedom and equality, which had an immeasurable impact.

The rebellion of romanticism

The Enlightenment has left a profound influence on us. It is full of individuality, close to life, unique and beautiful romanticism. Romanticism began in the middle of18th century and ended in the middle of19th century, but its influence has not disappeared until today. The founder of romanticism is Rousseau, a French civilian thinker born in Geneva (1712-1778). Rousseau is the most radical thinker in the Enlightenment, and his radicalization may be due to his bumpy life experience and cynical rebellious character. Perhaps because of this, Rousseau blew the first discordant note when he held high the rational banner of the Enlightenment. In his view, it is unreliable to worship reason and regard it as an infallible guide to human behavior and truth. Rationality has its uses, but regarding more problems in life, it is more reliable and more frequent to rely on emotions and let instincts and emotions do things. In his award-winning thesis "On Science and Art", Rousseau compared the freedom and ignorance of primitive people with the tyranny and evil of civilized society, and thought that human beings were originally kind, primitive people were "noble barbarians", primitive society was the best, and the progress of knowledge was harmful to human happiness.

Rousseau's views and thoughts shocked and influenced the whole European ideological circle, and he became the father of romanticism. For more than a hundred years after Rousseau, European philosophy, literature, art, music and architectural art were all saturated with romanticism.

According to my understanding, romanticism should refer to such a tendency and attitude that people's feelings are supreme. Its own characteristics are irrational, humanistic, individual, imaginative and emotional. It often takes history, national struggle and magnificent nature as the material and background to describe and eulogize people's feelings and achievements. Some poets we are familiar with, such as Byron, Shelley and Goethe. , are romantic poets.

The positive significance of romanticism lies in that it points out the limitations of human rationality and reveals that science is a double-edged sword for human life, which we have only now deeply realized. The contribution and influence of romanticism to the western humanistic spirit are as follows: it greatly enriches the connotation of humanistic spirit and highlights people's emotion and personality; It liberates people from the rule of cold rational principles and makes people fully realize the value and significance of life. It has narrowed the distance between man and nature, strengthened the relationship between man and nature, and helped us to re-establish respect for nature; It enables people to be good at discovering the strengths of developing countries and so-called backward nations and teaches people to tolerate different civilizations. The possible negative effects of romanticism are: the expansion of individualism, the confusion and disorder brought by personality publicity; Exclusion and exclusion of modern science and technology, moaning in literary works, emotional flooding in life and so on.

The true meaning of the Enlightenment

I think the most remarkable value and significance of the Enlightenment is not that it brought great progress in politics, economy and science and technology to Europe, but that it advocated the complete liberation of Europeans themselves. People's liberation includes two aspects: personal liberation and ideological liberation, that is to say, people should gain personal freedom and freedom of thought and speech. The Enlightenment made the western humanistic spirit born in ancient Greece and Rome and revived in 14 and 15 centuries deeply and satisfactorily embodied.

Rousseau of France and Kant of Germany (1724- 1804) have made great theoretical contributions to the profound discussion of individual freedom and freedom of thought. Rousseau thinks: "People are born free, but they are everywhere in chains." The country where the contract is formed is "the sovereignty belongs to the people", and the people have the right to overthrow the autocratic regime that infringes on people's interests and freedoms.

Kant agrees with Rousseau's view that people are born free, and on this basis, he puts forward freedom of thought. What is enlightenment compared with human beings themselves? Kant's definition tells the true meaning of the Enlightenment: "The Enlightenment is an immature state imposed by human beings from themselves. Immature state means that you can't do anything about using your own reason without the guidance of others. " Kant explained: Immature state does not mean that people lack rationality, but lack the courage and determination to use their own rationality without the guidance of others, so this immature state is imposed on themselves. Saper Oder! (Latin: think bravely. Have the courage to use your reason! This is the slogan of the Enlightenment. In ancient Greece, only Socrates could consciously use his own reason and freely express his thoughts and remarks, but he paid the price with his life. It can be seen that whether you can have independent will and free thoughts and judge with your own reason is an important criterion to measure whether a person or a nation has been enlightened. Facing the history and reality, Kant pointedly pointed out that the ruling class, which regards itself as the protector of the people, always prevents the people from using their own reason and pursuing ignorant policies. "Protecting people first makes their animals stupid, and beware that these docile animals dare not take a step from the locked car; Then point out to them the danger that will threaten them when they try to walk alone. "

"However, what restrictions hinder enlightenment and what are not, but they are enough to promote enlightenment? -I replied: There must always be freedom to openly use one's own reason, and only it can bring enlightenment to mankind. " [⑨]

This passage of Kant reveals the connotation of human freedom and the standard of enlightenment, which is very enlightening to our Chinese nation.

[1] See Roland Stromberg's History of Modern Western Thought, Central Compilation Press, 2005, p. 13. [2] See Concise Encyclopedia of Britain, Volume VI, Beijing: China Encyclopedia Publishing House, 1986, p. 76 1 page. [3] See Boccaccio's decameron, Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 1980, pp. 348-343. [4] ibid., p 357. [5] See The Complete Works of Shakespeare People's Literature Publishing House, 1978, Volume 9, Page 49. [6] See Yan Yuqiang's Gallery of Western Philosophy: Songs of Human Nature, Guizhou People's Publishing House, 1996, p. 5 1 page. [7] See The History of World Civilization by Edward McNoel Burns, The Commercial Press, 1990 Edition, Volume II, the first 18 1 page. [8] See Concise Encyclopedia of Britain, Volume VI, Beijing: China Encyclopedia Publishing House, 1986, pp. 594-595. [9] For the above quotation, please refer to De Kant's Critique of Historical Reason. The Commercial Press, 1997, pp. 22-24.