Understanding Modern Philosophy: Renaissance to Enlightenment
Modern Philosophy: From Renaissance to Enlightenment
Culturally, the Modern Age is usually divided into the Renaissance (15th and 16th centuries), the Baroque period (17th century), and the Enlightenment (18th century).
The 14th century introduced an important change in mentality, promoting the distinction between knowledge of the supernatural order (assigned to Theology) and knowledge of nature (assigned to philosophy and science), although science had not yet fully separated from Philosophy. In the 15th century, this distinction led to interest in the values of human beings, understood as beings developing in nature and history. This new mentality was encouraged by interest in Greco-Roman culture.
From this environment emerged Humanism, which attributed inherent dignity and value to human beings, considering them superior to all else. From the beginning of the 15th century, this drove the Renaissance humanist spirit, primarily interested in renewed intellectual, moral, spiritual, and political pursuits.
Nicholas of Cusa was the most significant philosophical figure in the origin of the Renaissance, along with Machiavelli, who greatly influenced later political philosophy. During the Renaissance, discussions arising from reformist religious attitudes led to widespread and intense controversy, directly affecting essential anthropological problems: the nature of freedom, the understanding of evil, and the legitimacy of power in society.
Modern philosophy began with the Renaissance humanist impulse and continued until the late 18th century, with a strong interest in problems of science and the rational foundation of its laws. The new science demonstrated that bodies are not as important as their relations, which are responsible for their behavior. Nature came to be regarded as a universe governed by mathematical precision, which science should learn to transcribe.
The objectives of modern philosophy can be summarized in three main concerns:
- Knowledge of the Universe, conceived as governed by a set of mathematical precision, to realize the new science.
- Architecture and operation of Reason.
- The application of anthropology, aesthetics, and politics of humanism with the enlightened ideas of Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Kant.
Key Moments in Modern Philosophy
There are four highlights:
- The Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution, which include Nicholas of Cusa, Giordano Bruno, Machiavelli, Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo.
- Rationalism, which intended to do philosophy on the model of mathematics, basing arguments on reason itself, which was seen as equipped with innate ideas and principles upon which to support scientific claims. Descartes sought mathematical certainty, Spinoza logical-mathematical consistency, and Leibniz aimed to reduce all knowledge to a universal mathematics.
- Empiricism, temporarily parallel with rationalism. Empiricist mentality was based on the claim that sensory experience was the only legitimate source of knowledge. This movement includes Locke, Hobbes, and Hume, whose ideas led to skepticism.
- The Enlightenment, which culminates and ripens the mentality that emerged in the Renaissance. In France, it reached its greatest strength, giving birth to a new intellectual, moral, and political world. Prominent representatives include Voltaire and Rousseau. It also had its echo in Germany, where Kant emphasized and exemplified the principles of enlightened thought, clarifying the structure of reason in his system synthesizing empiricism and rationalism.