Philosophical and legal thought of the Renaissance and Reformation. Test: Philosophy of the Renaissance and Reformation Philosophical and legal thought of the Renaissance and Reformation

The revival of philosophical and scientific thought that came with the beginning of the Renaissance also affected jurisprudence. The recognition of man as an individual led to a new search for justifications for the essence of society and the state. A so-called humanistic trend in jurisprudence is emerging, whose representatives focus on studying the sources of current (especially Roman) law, the intensified process of reception of which required the coordination of its provisions with the new conditions of socio-political life and with the norms of local national law. The rudiments of historical understanding and interpretation of law begin to develop.

For humanistic thinkers, law is, first of all, legislation. Movements against feudal fragmentation, for the centralization of state power, uniform legislation, and equality of all before the law are intensifying.

The focus of the humanists of the historical era under consideration on positive law was not accompanied by a complete denial of natural law ideas and concepts, since the current positive law also included Roman law, which includes these ideas and representations. The popularity of Roman law remains quite high; it continues to be regarded as “the best objective norm of natural justice.”

Renaissance humanists began to study law as a special factor in social life. But humanism made a distinction between theory and dogma only in methods of study, i.e. The subject of study of both the dogmatic lawyer and the humanist lawyer remained Roman and only Roman law. Subsequent work of philosophers expanded the subject of the study of law.

One of the first outstanding humanists of the Renaissance, who made a significant contribution to the theory of law, can rightfully be considered Lorenzo Valla(1407-1457), who, based on a deep and comprehensive analysis of ancient Roman law, created the basis for further scientific developments in the field of jurisprudence.

Having made personal interest the basis of legal ethics and making it a moral criterion, Valla calls for guidance in assessing human actions not by abstract moral or legal principles, but by specific life conditions that determine the choice between good and bad, between useful and harmful. This moral individualism had a significant impact on further development European jurisprudence, laid new ideological ground for the moral and legal values of the future bourgeois of the New Age.

Modern science about state and law begins with the famous Florentine Niccolo Machiavelli(1469-1527), who set himself the goal of creating a stable state in the conditions of the unstable socio-political situation of that time in Europe.

Machiavelli distinguishes three forms of government - monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. In his opinion, they are all unstable and only a mixed form of government gives the state the greatest stability. An example for him is Rome during the republican era, where the consuls were a monarchical element, the Senate - an aristocratic one, and the tribunes of the people - democratic. In his writings "Sovereign" And "Judgement on the first decade of Titus Livy" Machiavelli examines the reasons for success and defeat in politics, which he interprets as a way to retain power. In the work “The Sovereign” he advocates an absolute monarchy, and in “Judgments on the First Decade of Titus Livius” - a republican form of government. However, these works express the same real-political point of view on the forms of government: only political results are important. The goal is to come to power and then retain it. Everything else is just a way, including morality and religion.

Machiavelli starts from the premise that man is selfish. According to this, there are no limits to the human desire for material wealth and power. But due to limited resources, conflicts arise. The state is based on the individual’s needs for protection from aggression from others. In the absence of force behind the law, anarchy arises, so a strong ruler is needed to ensure the safety of the people. Without going into a philosophical analysis of the essence of man, Machiavelli considers these provisions as obvious.

Based on the fact that although people are always selfish, there are various degrees their depravity, in his argument Machiavelli uses the concept of a good and bad state, as well as good and bad citizens. He is interested in precisely the conditions that would make possible the existence of a good state and good citizens. A state, according to Machiavelli, will be good if it maintains a balance between various selfish interests and is thus stable. In a bad state, various selfish interests openly conflict, while a good citizen is a patriotic and militant subject. In other words, a good state is stable. The goal of politics is not the good life, as was believed in ancient Greece and the Middle Ages, but simply the maintenance of power (and thus the maintenance of stability).

Machiavelli understands the importance of strong government power. But above all, he is interested in pure political play. He shows a relatively weak understanding of the economic conditions for the exercise of power.

In general, Machiavelli’s contribution to the development of philosophical and legal theory is that he:

rejected scholasticism, replacing it with rationalism and realism;
laid the foundations of philosophical and legal science;
demonstrated the connection between politics and forms of state and social struggle, introduced the concepts of “state” and “republic” into modern meaning;
created the prerequisites for building a model of the state based on the material interest of a person.

Assessing the teachings of Niccolo Machiavelli, one cannot but agree with those researchers who believe that his political views have not formed into a coherent and complete theory, and even in its very basis some inconsistency is noticeable. But the main thing is that, starting with Machiavelli, political force, rather than moral principles, is increasingly considered as the legal basis of power structures and individuals, and politics is interpreted as an independent concept, separated from morality.

In addition to Niccolo Machiavelli, during the Renaissance, a significant contribution to the development of philosophical and legal thought was made by Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499), Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam(c. 1469-1536), Thomas More (1478-1535)".

Along with the philosophical and legal teachings of the Renaissance, the period made a significant contribution to legal science at the level of philosophical understanding of law Reformation. The process of overcoming medieval scholasticism was, in principle, carried out in a dual way: on the one hand, through the Renaissance, on the other, through the European Reformation. These movements differ from each other in the way they criticize medieval scholasticism, but both of them express the need for the death of medieval philosophy, ideology, political theories, are a manifestation of their crisis, and form the prerequisites for the creation of the foundations of the philosophy of law of the New Age.

One of the brightest representatives of the reform movement is Martin Luther(1483-1546). This German reformer, the founder of German Protestantism, was not a philosopher or thinker. Despite this, the impulsive religiosity of his theology included philosophical elements and ideas.

Luther justifies the rights and responsibilities of a person as a member of society from a religious and moral point of view and sees the meaning of his teaching in salvation by the power of faith alone. He sees personal faith as something completely opposite to faith in authorities.

Human life, according to Luther, is the fulfillment of a duty to God, which is realized in society, but is not determined by society. Society and the state must provide legal space for the implementation of such obligations. A person must seek from the authorities the sacred and indisputable right to actions taken in the name of atonement before God. Based on this, the Lutheran idea of freedom of conscience can be defined as follows: the right to believe according to conscience is the right to the entire way of life, which is dictated by faith and chosen in accordance with it.

Luther's philosophical and legal concept as a whole can be characterized by the following provisions:

freedom of belief according to conscience is a universal and equal right of all;
Not only faith, but also its premises deserve legal protection;
freedom of conscience presupposes freedom of speech, press and assembly;
the right must be realized in disobedience to state power regarding infringements of freedom of conscience;
legal support Only the spiritual deserves, while the carnal is left to the merciful discretion of the authorities.

The demand that nothing other than the word of God is needed expresses antipathy towards the rational. Hence Luther’s attitude to philosophy: word and mind, theology and philosophy should not be confused, but clearly distinguished. In the treatise "To the Christian nobility of the German nation" he rejects the teachings of Aristotle, since it turns away from the true Christian faith, without which a happy social life, the normal functioning of the state and its laws are impossible.

For a more complete picture of the philosophical and legal paradigm of the Renaissance and Reformation, it should be emphasized that on the political map of Europe in the 16th century. Such powerful states as France, England, and Spain with a strong central government were completely formed. The belief in the possibility of renouncing the authority of the Catholic Church is strengthened, and this involves unconditional submission to secular government authorities. In light of the events that took place in the 16th century. and had a significant influence on the development of new ideological and political doctrines, it is no coincidence that a completely new doctrine of the state appeared, the author of which was a French lawyer and publicist Jean Bodin (1530- 1596) .

He owns the rationale for state priority over all others social institutions, including the church. He first introduced the concept sovereignty as a distinctive feature of the state. In my work "Six Books about the Republic"(1576) Bodin pursues the idea of a sovereign state that has the ability to protect the rights of an autonomous person and resolutely assert the principles of peaceful coexistence of various socio-political forces within the country.

Developing his philosophical and legal concept of the state and political power, Jean Bodin, like Aristotle, considers the family to be the basis of the state (Bodin defined the state as legal management many households or families), recognizes property inequality in society as natural and necessary. Bodin's political ideal was a secular state capable of providing rights and freedom for all. In the best way to maintain law and order, he considered a strong monarchy, because the monarch is the only source of law and sovereignty.

By sovereign state Boden understood the supreme and unlimited state power, contrasting such a state with a medieval feudal state with its fragmentation, social inequality and limited power of kings.

Bodin believed that the main features of a sovereign state should be: the constancy of the supreme power, its unlimited and absolute nature, unity and indivisibility. Only such a government can ensure a single and equal right for everyone. For Bodin, sovereignty does not mean the sovereignty of the state itself; the subject of sovereignty is not the state, but specific rulers (the monarch, the people in democratic republics), i.e. government bodies. Depending on who is the bearer of sovereignty, Boden also identifies forms of state: monarchy, aristocracy, democracy.

In the works of Jean Bodin, a “geographical typification of states” is outlined, i.e. dependence of the type of state on climatic conditions. Thus, according to his ideas, the temperate zone is characterized by a state of reason, because the peoples living here have a sense of justice and love of humanity. The southern peoples are indifferent to work, and therefore need religious authority and the state. The peoples of the north living in harsh conditions can be forced to obey only a strong state.

Thus, the philosophy of law of the Renaissance and Reformation made an attempt to “cleanse” ancient philosophy from scholastic deformations, made its true content more accessible, and also in accordance with the needs of life, a new level of social and scientific development went beyond its borders, preparing the ground for the philosophy of law of the New Age and the Age of Enlightenment.

Some legal historians consider Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) to be a pioneer of scientific developments in the field of socio-political thought. However, his role in the history of Western European philosophy lies in the fact that he only outlined the main ways of development of philosophical and socio-political thought of his time, called on his contemporaries to pay close attention attention to human problems, his place in society, problems of regulating social relations. He also indicated a means by which these problems could be solved - the revival of ancient philosophy.
It is recommended to study L. Valla’s contribution to the development of legal philosophy in more detail using the literature given at the end of this chapter.

Lecture 3. Philosophy of the Renaissance and Reformation

Domestic philosophy.

The Age of Enlightenment in Russia (M.V. Lomonosov, A.N. Radishchev).

Before talking about the century of enlightenment in Russia, let us recall the main stages in the formation of Russian philosophical thought.

Philosophy Ancient Rus' based on the traditions of antiquity and folk (national) culture. The development of philosophical thought is in line with religious institutions in particular; Orthodoxy is its basis and foundation.

Philosophical ideas were realized in theology itself, in the literature of that time - chronicles, words, prayers, teachings, proverbs and sayings in works of painting, sculpture, frescoes, architecture. Ancient Russian philosophy did not yet have a strictly developed logical conceptual apparatus.

Periods of formation of Russian philosophy:

1) IX – XII centuries. – times of the prehistory of philosophy;

2) XIV – XVII centuries. – the time of its formation, the emergence of theoretical thinking, the beginning of the formation of a categorical apparatus;

3) XVIII century. – processes of substantiating philosophy from religion and establishing it as a theoretical science;

4) XIX century and the beginning of the 20th century. – fundamental development of problems of scientific methodology, social transformation, dialectics, classification of sciences.

Important elements of early philosophical and socio-political thought were: the relationship between the individual and state authorities, patriotism, comparison of the Old and New Testaments as the basis for the functioning of various states, moral behests to descendants, questions of knowledge as knowledge of God, but the formation of approaches to knowledge from the position of rationalism, reflections on soul and body, about life and death and the soul. Among the thinkers: Hilarion of Kyiv (11th century).

The Renaissance for most European countries is the era of the emergence of capitalist relations, the formation of national states, the era of the struggle against national reaction, and deep social conflicts. At the same time, this is the era of the development of natural science, the era of great geographical discoveries. At this time, humanity expanded its knowledge about environment, about the living world, about space. The first steps were taken in the systematization of plants, scientific anatomy arose, laying the foundation for modern medicine, and blood circulation was discovered. Significant discoveries have been made in astronomy, mathematics, and mechanics.

The Renaissance was marked by outstanding achievements in all areas of culture, including philosophy, in which new ideas replaced medieval scholasticism and patristics. Among the philosophers of the Renaissance we can name: Nicholas of Cusa, Leonardo da Vinci, Michel Montaigne, Niccolò Machiavelli, Giordano Bruno and others.

The philosophical thought of the Renaissance spans two and a half centuries from the 14th to the 17th centuries. It is possible to highlight three periods:

1. Humanistic or anthropocentric (mid 14th century – mid 15th century);

2. Neoplatonic (mid 15th – first third of the 16th century);

3. Natural philosophy (second half of the 16th – early 17th centuries).

For first period characterized by the opposition of man, his inner world, and spiritual values to medieval theocentrism, when the basis of philosophical constructions was the concept of God and his essence.

Second period was associated with the formation of epistemological ideas.

Third period was associated with the creation of a holistic picture of existence.

The philosophical thought of the Renaissance creates a new picture of the world. In its main tendency it is pantheistic, i.e. God ceases to be the main creative force, as it was in orthodox religion (i.e., the original) in scholastic and dogmatic theorizing. In Renaissance philosophy, God dissolves in nature and is identified with nature. Philosophy ceases to be the handmaiden of theology, but becomes the expression of knowledge and wisdom.

Another important feature of the philosophy of this period is its anthropocentrism. According to this approach, it is man who becomes the main object of philosophical consideration. At the same time, man becomes the center of the universe. He is no longer a creature under the Creator, but the goal of nature, the creative, spiritualized beginning.

Within the framework of the Renaissance, there is such a historical phenomenon as the Reformation, which most clearly revealed itself in the 15th and 16th centuries. Like the Renaissance, the Reformation was aimed at overcoming outdated forms of social relations characteristic of the Middle Ages, called feudal. But if the Renaissance puts forward demands for the transformation of society through the expansion of secular education, which primarily concerned the upper strata of society, then the Reformation, while remaining within the framework of the medieval religious understanding of the world, offered a new simplified path to God through a change in the church and its teachings and could, in First of all, find a response in the middle and lower strata of society, due to their great attachment to religious ideas determined by the conditions of existence.

The essence of the Reformation movement consisted of criticism and an attempt to change the monopoly position of the Catholic Papal Church and its teachings in the political and ideological system of European society.

In the 16th century The reform movement reached the apogee of its development. In a number of European countries, although in different ways, the transition to the new Protestant Church was made. In some places only the reformation of the Catholic Church took place. The 17th century no longer knows the Reformation.

For the first steps of the European reform movement great value had the teachings of the English reformer Wyclif and his follower master Yana Hus, which expressed a social and humanistic orientation.

The most important role in the reform movement belongs to Martin Luther(1483-1546) - an outstanding representative of the Reformation, the founder of German Protestantism. He was not a philosopher or thinker, but was influenced by mysticism ( I. Towler) and the teachings of Huss, is inspired to take such serious actions.

Luther opposed the church as the only mediator between God and man, opposed the right of the church to give absolution, contributed to exposing the moral uncleanliness of the Roman church and opposed the Catholic clergy in general. Luther becomes the head of a spontaneously growing anti-church movement.

Luther expressed the view that the work of liberation lies in the hands of each individual. This position echoes the ideal of the liberation of the individual in the Renaissance. But he sees the possibility of salvation in immediate faith in Scripture, in the word of God, as it is in the Gospel, which is why his teaching is often called evangelical.

In the first half of the 16th century. Lutheranism spreads to other countries (Austria, partly Poland, Hungary and France). The Reformation movement was especially strong in Switzerland. Here new directions of the Reformation arise - Zwinglianism, including Calvinism associated with the name John Calvin(1500-1594) - a French theologian who spent most of his life in Switzerland, where he wrote his main treatise, “Instructions in the Christian Faith.” His main ideas coincide with the ideas of Luther: earthly life is the path to salvation, in this life one must endure, etc. He believed that it was necessary to use wealth in moderation in accordance with God's will. Calvin, like Luther, held doctrine of predestination, according to which God predestines people to eternal salvation, because knows that they will believe during their lifetime.

The central phenomenon characteristic of the Renaissance was humanism- a view that recognized the value of man as an individual, his right to freedom, happiness, and development. Humanism had a long prehistory of antiquity and the Middle Ages, but as a broad social phenomenon it began to take shape precisely during the Renaissance. Humanism arose in university departments; it was represented by diplomats, teachers, artists, poets, publicists, and rhetoricians; communities of like-minded people were organized, concerned with the revival of ancient culture.

The principle of humanism marked a revolution in the culture and worldview of mankind. One of its manifestations was opposition to scholasticism, which was criticized and ridiculed, as well as the formation of a new moral ideal and ways of its implementation.

If, according to traditional Christian ethics, the pinnacle of moral perfection was considered to be participation in God, an ascetic lifestyle, and the suppression of some sensual desires, then humanism affirms the joy of earthly existence, glorifies the beauty of the human body, the cult of pleasure and benefit. And in this they were in tune with the ideals of the ancient Epicureans.

A prominent representative of humanism is Francesco Petrarca(1304-1374). He is called the father of humanism. He argued that the universities of the late Middle Ages were falling into decay, their teachers were devoid of piety, and were damaging the good name of theology that it had earned in the era of the “church fathers.” In his treatise “On One’s Own Ignorance and the Ignorance of Others,” by emphasizing his own ignorance, he expresses the idea of independence of his thinking from scholastic university scholarship. He accepts Christianity, but not in a scholastic interpretation. Petrarch is inclined to the idea of active self-realization of man, his views anthropocentric. The hallmark of the Renaissance was individualism, characteristic of Petrarch. He was interested, first of all, in the internal ethical problems of man. In the philosophical dialogue “My Secret,” he reveals the deepest internal conflicts of a person and ways to overcome them. Ptrarka's work is distinguished by its earthly character, full understanding of the joys and passions of man.

To the outstanding humanists of the 15th century. belongs Lorenzo Vala(1407-1457) - thinker, philologist, one of the founders of the method of comparative analysis, which he applied not only to philosophical works (for example, Titus Livy), but also to the New Testament, intending to return its text to its original purity and clarity. He rejected scholastic logic, putting forward Cicero's rhetoric against it as a way to help a person think and debate in a new way.

In ethics, Vala is close to Epicureanism and prefers it to Stoicism. He believes that in a person everything that has to do with the vital instinct of self-preservation is virtuous, therefore no pleasure is immoral. Vala's ethics, like Petrarch's, are individualistic.

Many humanists defend the ideas of moderate utilitarianism, i.e. doctrine according to which the purpose of life and virtue are identified with benefit. They look for ways to reconcile their personal interests with the interests of others. Humanists believe that people should be a source of joy for each other, and this is impossible without the basis of human relationships being love and friendship.

Thus, the humanism of the Renaissance is oriented towards free thinking and, accordingly, a fair structure of social and state life, achievable on the basis of democracy, within the framework of a republican system.

In the clerical journalism of the Renaissance we will not find any enthusiasm for rebirth (spiritual uplift and recovery). Its honest and thoughtful representatives are filled with deep anxiety; they talk about the corruption of the sacred class, the widespread decline of morals, the disastrous state of the church and faith. From this anxiety, which found an echo among the broad mass of the laity, a passionate and creative movement was born for the renewal of the faith, which turned against the papacy and already in the first third XVI century received a truly democratic scope. This movement is a religious reformation. It begins with Luther's energetic preaching and moves through such dramatic events as the formation of the Lutheran Church in the German principalities, the rise of Anabaptism and the Peasants' War of 1524-1525; establishment of Calvinism in Switzerland; the spread of Protestantism in the Netherlands, Scandinavia, England and France; the Dutch struggle for independence (1568-1572); the monstrous religious wars of the first half of the 17th century, which led to the establishment of the ideas of religious tolerance and separation of church and state; the emergence of the “second generation” of Protestant denominations (Socinians, Pietists, Herrnhuters, Quakers, Mormons, etc.); English revolution 1645-1648 The recognized leaders of the Reformation were Martin Luther (1483-1546), Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) and John Calvin (1509-1564).

There is no doubt that the early Reformation inherited the main initiative of the Renaissance - its personalistic spirit. The Reformation inherited the main initiative of the Renaissance - its personalistic spirit. Continuing the main - personalistic - effort of the humanists of the 14th-15th centuries, the first reformers made an attempt “to create a new teaching about God, the world and man […] on the basis of free cognitive evidence.” The humanists of the Renaissance and representatives of early Reformation thought were united by the pathos of a free conscience, the idea of a return to origins (in one case - to the ancient and evangelical, in the other - to the evangelical and patristic); the desire for a moral interpretation of Scripture; deep hostility to scholasticism, dogmatics and frozen formulas of church tradition. These coincidences are so obvious that they have more than once given rise to the temptation to combine the Renaissance and the Reformation into one sociocultural and spiritual era. But the other side of the problem is no less significant. The Reformation is not only a continuation of the Renaissance, but also a protest against it - a decisive, passionate protest, sometimes poured into fanatical formulas of anti-humanism and even misanthropy. To take these formulas under protection would mean to abandon a civilized, humane way of thinking. And at the same time, one cannot help but see that the disagreement of the Reformation with the Renaissance was quite justified and that the civilized way of thinking itself owes much to this disagreement. Solidarizing with the Renaissance recognition of the individual human Self, the early reformers categorically rejected, however, the Renaissance generic exaltation of man, his exaltation as a category, as a special kind of being (or - in theological language - as a special kind of creature). In the Renaissance's praises of human perfection (especially expressive ones, for example, by Marsilio Ficino), they were able to hear a tendency towards the deification of man.

The culture of the Renaissance (Renaissance) was not a very long era. In Italy, where this culture first arose, it lasted three centuries - from the 14th to the 16th centuries. And in other European countries it is even less - XV-XVI centuries. As for other countries and continents, the presence of the Renaissance there seems problematic, to say the least. Nevertheless, some domestic scientists, in particular the famous orientalist N.I. Conrad, put forward the idea of a global Renaissance.

This idea also has support in the eastern countries themselves. So. Chinese scholars are developing a concept according to which China had not one, but four Renaissance eras. There are also supporters of the Indian Renaissance. However, the arguments and evidence put forward are not sufficiently substantiated and convincing. The same can be said about the Renaissance in Russia: some authors insist on its existence, but their arguments are questionable. The culture of the Renaissance did not have time to take shape even in Byzantium. This applies to an even greater extent to Russia.

In socio-economic and political terms, as well as chronologically, the Renaissance as a whole remains within the boundaries of the Middle Ages, within the framework of feudalism, although from this point of view it is in many ways transitional. As for culture, here the Renaissance really constitutes a completely special, transitional era from the Middle Ages to the New Age.

The word itself "Renaissance" means a rejection of medieval culture and a return, “revival” of the culture and art of Greco-Roman antiquity. And although the term “revival” became widely used later, at the beginning of the 19th century, the real processes themselves took place much earlier.

The Italian phenomenon of the emergence of a new culture was not an accident, but was determined by the characteristics of Italian feudalism. The mountainous terrain of Northern and Central Italy did not allow the creation of large land holdings. The country also did not have a permanent royal dynasty, was not united and centralized, but was fragmented into separate city-states.

All this contributed to the earlier (X-XI centuries) than in other countries, and more rapid growth of cities, and with them - the growth and strengthening of the role of refilled, i.e. trade and craft layers, which in the fight against feudal lords already in the 13th century. added to their economic dominance political power in Florence, Bologna, Siena and other cities.

As a result, favorable conditions were created for the emergence and development of elements of capitalism. It was the nascent capitalism, which needed free labor, that accelerated the destruction of the system of feudal relations.

To what has been said, it should be added that it was in Italy that much of Roman antiquity was preserved, and above all the language of antiquity - Latin, as well as cities, money, etc. The memory of the greatness of the distant past has been preserved. All this ensured Italy's primacy in the creation of a new culture.

Many other events and phenomena contributed to the establishment and development of Renaissance culture. These primarily include great geographical discoveries - the discovery of America (1492), the discovery of a sea route from Europe to India (XV century), etc. - after which it was no longer possible to look at the world with the same eyes. It was of great importance invention of printing(mid-15th century), which laid the foundation for a new written culture.

The formation of Renaissance culture was primarily a response to the deep crisis of medieval culture. That's why its main features are anti-feudal and anti-clerical orientation, a clear predominance of the secular and rational principle over the religious. At the same time, religion is not eliminated or disappears; it largely retains its leading position. But its crisis meant a crisis of the very foundation of medieval culture. The crisis of Catholicism was so serious that a powerful movement arose within it Reformation, which led to its split and the emergence of a new direction in Christianity - Protestantism.

However, the main and most essential thing in the culture of the Renaissance is humanism.

The founder of humanism and the entire Renaissance culture was the Italian poet Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374). He was the first to talk about the turn of culture towards Antiquity, towards Homer and Virgil. Petrarch does not reject Christianity, but in him it appears rethought, humanized. The poet looks very critically at scholasticism, condemns it for its subordination to theology, for its neglect of human problems.

Petrarch strongly emphasizes the importance humanities and verbal arts - poetry, rhetoric, literature, ethics, aesthetics, which help the moral and spiritual improvement of man, on the development of which the success of the new culture depends. Petrarch's concept was further developed by his followers - Coluccio Salutati, Lorenzo Valla, Pico della Mirandoll and others.

A prominent representative of humanism was the French philosopher Michel Montaigne (1533-1592). IN In his work “Experiments,” he gives an ironic and caustic criticism of scholasticism, demonstrates brilliant examples of secular freethinking, and proclaims man as the highest value.

The English writer and politician Thomas More (1519-1577) and Italian philosopher and poet Tomaso Campanella (1568-1639) the ideas of humanism form their core concept of utopian socialism. The first sets them out in his famous “Utopia”, and the second in the no less famous “City of the Sun”. Both believe that a life worthy of a person should be built on the principles of reason, freedom, equality, fraternity and justice.

Erasmus of Rotterdam (1469-1536)- theologian, philologist, writer - became the head of Christian humanism. He came up with the idea of reviving the ideals and values of early Christianity, a “return to origins” in all areas of life. In his satire “In Praise of Stupidity” and other works, he exposes the vices of his contemporary society, ridicules the hypocrisy, ignorance, vulgarity and vanity of the world of the clergy.

Erasmus of Rotterdam sought to restore the “evangelical purity” of Christianity, make it truly human, fertilize it with ancient wisdom and connect it with a new humanistic secular culture. The most significant values for him are freedom and reason, moderation and peacefulness, simplicity and common sense, education and clarity of thought, tolerance and harmony. He views war as the most terrible curse of humanity.

Despite all the uniqueness of the emerging movements and concepts of humanism, there is much in common between them. They all rest on anthropocentrism, according to which man is the center and highest goal of the universe. We can say that humanists revived the concept of Socrates, as well as the famous formula of another Greek philosopher, Protagoras: “Man is the measure of all things. Existing - in the fact that they exist. Non-existent - in the fact that they do not exist."

If for the religious Middle Ages man is a “trembling creature,” then the humanists of the Renaissance know no limit to the elevation of man, bringing him closer and equal to God. Nicholas of Kuzansky calls man “the second god.” If the first God rules in heaven, then the second rules on earth.

Instead of faith in God, humanism proclaims faith in man and his development. Human is defined as a perfect being, endowed with limitless abilities and inexhaustible possibilities. He has everything necessary and sufficient to be the creator of his own destiny, without turning to anyone for help, completely relying on himself.

Humanists also proclaimed belief in intelligence man, in his ability to cognize and explain the world around him without resorting to God's providence. They rejected theology's claims to monopolistic possession of truth and criticized the previous role of religious dogmas and authorities in the matter of knowledge.

In contrast to medieval morality, which promised man better life in the other world, humanism declared man’s earthly life to be the highest value, exalted man’s earthly destiny, and affirmed his right to happiness in the real this-worldly world.

Humanists rejected the religious concept of man as a “servant of God”, deprived of free will, whose norms of behavior are uncomplaining humility, submission to fate, unconditional submission to Divine will and grace. They revived the ancient ideal of a free, creative, active, comprehensively and harmoniously developed personality. It is not the Fall and redemption that constitute the meaning of human existence. And an active, active, working life, which is an unconditional value. Any work - be it agriculture, craft or trade, any increase in wealth - receives the highest praise from humanists.

Humanists revived the Aristotelian understanding of man as a “political animal” and went much further in this direction. They fully realized social character of a person and his being. They supplemented Christian equality before God with equality before the law. Humanists actively opposed the existing cruel social class hierarchy and class privileges. Starting with Petrarch, they began to increasingly criticize the idle “lifestyle of the nobles,” contrasting it with the working lifestyle of the third estate.

Humanism - especially Italian - came forward against religious asceticism, which requires a person to self-restraint in everything, to suppress sensual desires. He revived ancient hedonism with its glorification of pleasure and enjoyment. Life should not give a person torment and suffering, but the joy of being, satisfaction, pleasure, fun and enjoyment. Life itself is happiness and bliss. Sensual, physical love ceases to be sinful and base. It is included among the highest values. The great Dante in his “Divine Comedy” sings and glorifies all love, including sinful love.

Humanistic culture has created not only a new understanding of man, but also a new look at nature. In the Middle Ages, they looked at it with religious eyes; it was perceived very skeptically, as a source of defilement and temptation, as something that separates man from God. Renaissance humanism returns to ancient ideals in the interpretation of nature, defining it as the basis and source of everything that exists, as the embodiment of harmony and perfection.

Petrarch sees nature as a living and intelligent being. For him, she is a loving mother and teacher, a “natural norm” for a “natural person.” Everything in a person is from nature, not only the body, but also the mind, and virtue, and even eloquence. Nature is seen as a source of beauty or as beauty itself. L. Alberti - Italian architect and art theorist, representative of the Early Renaissance - speaks of the closeness of the language of art and the language of nature, defines the artist as a great imitator of nature, calls on him to follow nature “with his eye and mind.”

Reformation and the birth of Protestantism

The Renaissance caused profound changes in all areas of culture, and above all in. As noted above, the crisis of Catholicism led to the emergence at the beginning of the 16th century. the broad movement of the Reformation, the result of which was Protestantism - the third direction in Christianity. However, signs of serious trouble in Catholicism were clearly evident long before the Reformation. The main reason for this was that the Catholic clergy and the papacy could not resist the temptation of material wealth.

The Church literally drowned in luxury and wealth; it lost all measure in its desire for power, enrichment and expansion of land holdings. To enrich themselves, all kinds of exactions were used, which turned out to be especially ruinous and unbearable for the northern countries. The trade in indulgences has acquired a completely obscene aspect, i.e. remission of sins for money.

All this caused growing discontent and criticism towards the clergy and the papacy. It is noteworthy that Dante, in his “Divine Comedy” - at the dawn of the Renaissance - placed two popes, Nicholas III and Boniface VIII, in hell, in a fire-breathing pit, believing that they deserve nothing better. The creative work of Erasmus of Rotterdam contributed to the awareness of the crisis state of Catholicism. The French philosopher P. Bayle rightly called him the “John the Baptist” of the Reformation. He really prepared the Reformation ideologically, but did not accept it because he... in his opinion, she used medieval methods to overcome the Middle Ages.

The clergy themselves understood the need to reform Christianity and the Church, but all their attempts in this direction were unsuccessful. As a result, they received a powerful Reformation movement and a split in Catholicism.

One of the first forerunners of the Reformation was an English priest John Wycliffe (1330-1384), opposed the Church's right to own land, for the abolition of the papacy and the rejection of a number of sacraments and rituals. The Czech thinker also came up with similar ideas Jan Hus (1371-1415), who demanded to abolish the trade in indulgences, return to the ideals of early Christianity, and equalize the rights of the laity and the clergy. Hus was condemned by the Church and burned.

In Italy, the pioneer of reform aspirations was J. Savonarola (1452-1498). subjected the papacy to severe criticism, exposing the Church in its desire for wealth and luxury. He was also excommunicated and burned. In Italy, the Reformation movement did not become widespread, since here the oppression and abuses of the papacy were less acutely felt.

The main figures of the Reformation are the German priest Martin Luther (1483-1546) and a French priest John Calvin (1509-1564), who headed the burgher-bourgeois direction, as well as Thomas Munzer (1490-1525), who led the popular wing of the Reformation, which in Germany developed into a peasant war (1524-1526). In the Netherlands and England, the Reformation movement led to bourgeois revolutions.

The exact date of the beginning of the Reformation is considered to be October 31, 1517, when Luther nailed a piece of paper containing 95 theses against the trade in indulgences on the door of his church in Wittenberg.

It affected not only the trade in indulgences, but also more fundamental things in Catholicism. She spoke with a slogan about a return to the very origins of Christianity. For this purpose, she compared the Catholic Sacred Tradition with the Holy Scriptures, the Bible, concluding that the Sacred Tradition is a gross distortion of original Christianity. The Church not only does not have the right to sell indulgences, but also to forgive a person’s sins in general.

The Bible does not require any atoning sacrifice from the sinner. To save him, what is needed is not donations to the Church or monasteries, not “good deeds,” but sincere repentance for what he has done and deep faith. Forgiveness of personal sin, personal guilt is achieved through a direct, personal appeal to God. No intermediaries are required.

Considering other functions of the Church, supporters of the Reformation come to the conclusion that all of them, like the very existence of the Church, contradict the Holy Scriptures. The existence of the Church as a religious institution rests on the position of Catholicism on the division of believers into priests and laity. However, the need for such an institution and division is not in the Bible; on the contrary, the principle of “universal priesthood” is proclaimed there. universal equality of people before God.

It is this principle of equality that the Reformation restores. Servants of the Church should not have any privileges in their relationship with God. Claiming to be a mediator between a simple believer and God, they encroach on the right of everyone to directly communicate with God, for. as Luther states, “everyone is his own priest.” Any member of the community can be elected to the position of pastor.

Equally, every believer should be able to read and interpret the Holy Scriptures. Luther rejected the pope's exclusive right to the only correct interpretation of the Bible. On this occasion he declares: “It is fitting for each and every Christian to know and discuss the doctrine, it is fitting, and let him be cursed. who narrows this right one iota.” To do this, he translated the Bible from Latin to German, and following his example it was translated into the languages of other European countries.

The denial of the Catholic Church was also justified a new understanding of God. In Catholicism, He is perceived as something external to man, a kind of celestial being, man’s external support. The spatial gap between God and man, to a certain extent, allowed for the presence of an intermediary between them, which the Church became.

In Protestantism, the understanding of God changes significantly: from an external support He turns into an internal one, located in man himself. Now all external religiosity becomes internal, and at the same time all elements of external religiosity, including the Church, lose their former meaning. Since the divine principle is transferred inside a person, it depends on him how and to what extent he can take advantage of the divine gift within him.

Faith in God essentially acts as a person’s faith in himself, for the presence of God is transferred into himself. This kind of faith really becomes internal matter a person, a matter of his conscience, the work of his soul. This “inner faith” is the only condition and way of man’s salvation.

The revision of the place and role of the Church in religious life entailed the abandonment of many rituals, sacraments and shrines. Only those were saved. which are strictly in accordance with Scripture. In particular, of the seven sacraments, only two remain: baptism and communion.

The Reformation has many sides echoes with Renaissance humanism. She also follows the path of human upliftment, doing this, in a certain sense, more soberly and carefully. Humanism too generously brings man closer to God, declares him a “second god,” a man-god, etc. The Reformation proceeds more cautiously. It preserves the Christian thesis about the original sinfulness of man. At the same time, she endows him with the Divine principle, the Divine gift and grace, which open before him the real way to salvation.

Hence, she strongly emphasizes the importance of the efforts of the person himself, his personal faith, personal choice, personal responsibility. She declares salvation itself to be a person’s personal matter. So is humanism. The Reformation contributed to the strengthening of the role of the secular principle, worldly life. Luther, in particular, rejected monasticism as the highest form of service to God.

At the same time, between the Reformation and humanism there are significant differences. The main one concerns relationship to the mind. Exalting man, humanism relied primarily on the endless possibilities of the human mind. His faith in man rested on faith in his mind. The Reformation looked at reason very critically. Luther called him "the devil's harlot." He declared Peru in God inaccessible and incomprehensible to reason.

Questions about the relationship between the human and the divine were resolved differently, which was manifested in the ideological dispute between Luther and Erasmus of Rotterdam. The first reproached the second for the fact that “the human means more to him than the divine.” Luther took the opposite position.

Emerging from the Reformation Protestantism includes several movements: Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism, Presbyterianism, Baptistism, etc. However, they are all religions. which is surprisingly simple, cheap and convenient. This is exactly the kind of religion that the nascent bourgeoisie needed. It does not require a lot of money to build expensive churches and maintain a magnificent cult, which is the case in Catholicism. It does not take much time for prayers, pilgrimages to holy places and other rites and rituals.

It does not constrain a person’s life and behavior by observing fasts, choosing food, etc. She does not require any outward manifestation of her faith. To be righteous in it, it is enough to have faith in your soul. Such a religion suits the modern business person quite well. It is no coincidence that J. Calvin noted that success in professional activity is a sign of God's chosenness.

The establishment of the new religion came with great difficulties. Catholicism, led by the papacy, could not come to terms with the fact that it was losing control over large parts of Germany, France, Switzerland and all of England. Confrontation between the old and new religions led in the second half of the 16th century. to an open religious war with Protestantism, called the Counter-Reformation, in which the Jesuit Order, created by Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), played a special role.

It was this order that became famous for such a notorious event as St. Bartholomew’s Night, when more than 2 thousand Protestant Huguenots were killed in Paris alone on the night of August 24, 1572, and throughout the country over the next two weeks - about 30 thousand Protestants .

Not only Protestants were persecuted, but also humanists, whose works were declared prohibited. For this purpose, the “Index of Forbidden Books” was created, which included Dante’s “Divine Comedy” and Boccaccio’s “Decameron”. “On the revolutions of the celestial spheres” by Copernicus and many others.

Thanks to the revolution that ended in the 17th century, the Catholic Church managed to maintain influence in Italy, Spain, France, the southern regions of Germany and a number of Eastern European states. However, European culture was split into Catholic and Protestant.

Hello, dear readers! Welcome to the blog!

Renaissance philosophy - the most important thing briefly. This is the topic for this article in continuation of the series of articles on philosophy. The article also contains a list of books on Renaissance philosophy and a video with brief description the main representatives and main ideas of the philosophy of the Renaissance.

From previous articles you learned the topics:

Renaissance philosophy - the most important thing briefly

Approximately The Renaissance begins in Western Europe in the 14th century, which had a huge impact on the entire development of human civilization and the formation of the cultural and social life of society. The main feature of that time was a sharp decline in the influence of the church on all political and social processes in society. The Renaissance is associated with the return of thinkers to the ideas of antiquity, with the revival of Roman and ancient Greek philosophy.

Stages of Renaissance philosophy

Humanistic stage- mid-14th century - 1st half of the 15th century. Characterized by a transition to anthropocentrism from theocentrism.
Neoplatonic stage– 2nd half of the 15th century – 1st half of the 16th century. Characterized by a change in worldviews.
Natural philosophical stage– 2nd half of the 16th century – 1st half of the 17th century. Characterized by attempts to make changes to the picture of the world.

Historical background of the emergence of Renaissance philosophy

Feudal relations became obsolete by the 14th century. Cities and self-government began to grow rapidly in them. Especially in Italy, where the traditions of autonomy of large cities, such as Venice, Rome, Naples, Florence, were not lost. Italy was a model for other European countries.
By the 14th century monarchs began to become burdened with influence Catholic Church in many areas of life. The townspeople and peasants were also tired of the clergy's taxes. This led to a struggle for reform of the Church and a split between Protestantism and Catholicism.
14th-16th centuries were marked by great geographical discoveries. Systematization of natural science knowledge was required. Scientists have become increasingly bold in declaring that the world is rational.

Anthropocentrism and humanism of Renaissance philosophy

Everything was based on anthropocentrism and humanism. According to anthropocentrism, man is the most important thing, the center of the entire universe. According to humanism, as a branch of anthropocentrism, every person has the right to his own freedom and development.

A life full of pleasure and a person's own interests were put forward against the asceticism and harsh dictates of the church. Many writers and philosophers of that time devoted their works to this.

Representatives of Renaissance philosophy

Petrarch in his sonnets he called on everyone in his country to heal from anger and forget about the enmity among the townspeople.

Boccaccio very sharply criticized church ministers who did nothing for enlightenment, but only grew rich, denounced nobles who were incapable of creation, and put in the first place the human mind and the intention to get as much joy and pleasure from life as possible.

Erasmus of Rotterdam in his deeply Christian philosophical works he showed that humanism should be the basis of everything and the old ideology of feudalism cannot give anything to a person.

Leonardo da Vinci made a significant contribution to the development of humanism in his works and scientific works.

Giordano Bruno and Galileo Galilei, Nicolaus Copernicus in their works on natural sciences and philosophy, they began to identify God not just with nature, but with the infinite Cosmos and the Universe.

It can be said that almost all literature and philosophy of that time were focused on the recognition of a person’s right to his life, to development and creative self-expression.

The philosophy was filled with recognition of the human right to happiness, self-determination and opportunities for one's development. The person has become more important than everything, including the state as such.

The main directions of philosophy of the Renaissance

Heliocentrism is a heliocentric system of the world, representing the Sun as the center around which the Earth rotates. Heliocentrism comes from antiquity and became widespread in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Humanism comes from the Latin word humanus (humane) and means an ethical position on the right of people to freely determine the form and meaning of their own lives.
Neoplatonism- this is a direction in philosophy that originated in ancient philosophy in the 3rd century and was based on the ideas of Plato: the transcendental single origin, the cosmic hierarchy, the ascent of the soul to the original source.
Secularism- the assertion that laws and government should be separate from religions.

Characteristic features of Renaissance philosophy

Freedom of expression against senseless religious scholasticism and the dominance of the church in all areas.
Literature and philosophy are increasingly pay attention to human values.
New trends in culture and philosophy began to penetrate more and more into European countries and gradually became the basis of all philosophy at that time.
Most characteristic features this era can be called complete denial of useless book disputes, which lead nowhere, but only confuse the human mind.
Besides this, in philosophy everything ideas of natural scientific knowledge of the world and man were more dominant. The emphasis was on the works of philosophers of ancient times, who preferred materialism.
Philosophy gradually began to put forward man as the main driving force and the basis of the entire surrounding world.

Machiavelli's philosophy in brief

Niccolo Machiavelli was the first philosopher of the time who completely rejected theocracy as the basis of the entire system. He believed that it was necessary to build a country only on a secular principle and, according to his worldview, the basis of a person’s entire life is exclusively selfishness and the desire to get rich. To curb the evil nature of human nature, one must use force, which can only be provided by the state.

Order in society can only be created by jurisprudence and the corresponding worldview of each member of society, and all this can be done exclusively by the state machine, and not by the church with its prejudices. Machiavelli studied a lot of issues that related to the structure of the state and government, the interaction of man and government, methods of countering violence and corruption in the country, and so on.

Books on Renaissance philosophy

Gorfunkel A. Philosophy of the Renaissance.
Perevezentsev S. Anthology of philosophy of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

VIDEO Renaissance philosophy in 15 minutes

Resume

The stage of philosophy during the Renaissance can be briefly described as awakening from ignorance, recognition the values of every person. Representatives of the Renaissance are philosophers and naturalists, such as Giordano Bruno, Galileo Galilei, Nicolaus Copernicus. In their works they became identify God not just with nature, but with the infinite cosmos and the universe. They turned their gaze to the sky.

Renaissance philosophy includes not only natural philosophical ideas and ideas of pantheism, but also humanistic views. The philosophy of this period requires a person to constantly self-improvement, courage in searching for the meaning of earthly existence, the divine principle in all things.

I wish everyone an unquenchable thirst for knowing yourself and the world around you, inspiration in all your affairs!