Renaissance Europe and Early Renaissance - Essay Example

Renaissance Europe We often come across the word "utopia" in our discussions with an undercurrent of far-fetchedness from reality and impractical idealism, according to dictionary its meaning is an ideal and perfect place or state, where everyone lives in harmony and everything is for the best ( Encarta Dictionary). To the curious mind disturbing questions haunt such as if allegedly no such existence is possible then why tantalize the natural yearning present in all of us for it at the first place. Who might have been the person who gave word to this fundamental desire in everyone to ignite a ray of hope no matter how belittle it be to expect utopia somewhere and time. And can this hypothetical scenario ever be materialized. An etymology for this word say a lot about the possibility of such existence, it was originated by Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 - 6 July 1535), and used for the first time in his Latin book "Concerning the highest state of the republic and the new island Utopia" published in 1516. Interestingly his conviction in this state could be inferred from the fact that he conjoined two Greek words 'ou' for NOT and 'topos' for PLACE to form a word that literally means "nowhere." Sir Thomas More or Saint Thomas More as he is also refered to was an English lawyer, author, and statesman. He was highly regarded as a humanist scholar, he was bearer of many important public posts including that of Lord Chancellor from 1529 to 1532 in his illustrious career (Roper, 1626). Another cause clbre for which he is remembered is his refusal to accept King Henry VIII as the supreme head of the Church of England. It was his this bold stance that elevated him to the level of great people and his courage and conviction to remain steadfast at the face of adversity earned him the sainthood from the Catholic Church by Pope Pius XI in 1935 about four hundred years after his death. Apart from his principled defiance to the authority he is best known for his most famous and controversial book that was published in 1516 in which he for the first time used the word utopia. In this book he tells of a imaginary character Raphael Hythloday who is a traveler, extensive allegory is used to make the story more powerful and appealing; like the first name is ingeniously used to allude to the archangel Raphael, who is the messenger of truth. And surname in Greek means "dispenser of nonsense". The book is about political set up of fictitious place Utopia, it's a place where there is no concept of private ownership and different faiths are practiced freely and inter faith tolerance is firmly in placed. It is an embodiment of perfect destination where everything is desirable politically, culturally, socially, education wise and economically. With specific consideration to exceptional tolernce to varied forms of opinion and diversity. The purpose of presenting this unique and perfect state was to provide some form of imaginative yard stick at least to measure or correlate the certain dynamics of state affairs that eventually are pivotal for smooth functioning of a state. More very intelligently presented religio-political design of the imaginary state as an epitome of perfection and then compared and contrasted the real life affairs of European states with the ideal standards of utopian state. Thus he was able to devise a mechanism whereby the efficacy and inefficacy of a state could be measured on an arbitrary scale. One very interesting development that was observed from his argument in search of perfect state was that though he had maintained complete religious tolerence for every faith he was also adament in establishing the fact that there was no room for atheism in the utopian society. It was the marriage of convenience since he was catholic in faith and being minority in England needed tolerance of faith but his devout Catholicism did not allow him have anything to do with godless society. The ostensible reason given by him for this eerie prejudism was because an atheist does not accept any superior power he is bound to be self centered and actions taken by him might not always be in the mutual interests of society. The Europe underwent a great transition from 1400 to 1600. this period was a milestone in the history of Europe and more specifically called as the Renaissance. It means a rebirth or revival, for example, of culture, skills, or learning forgotten or previously ignored. This epochal movement was carried out to drive Europe out of Dark Age to the world of enlightenment; the ramifications of this phenomenon were so profound that it led to the ultimate foundation of modern world. It was time for rediscovering and fascination; it guided into exploring hitherto unknown or forgotten. The renaissance is divided into few distinct divisions, the first part is called the Early Renaissance and it extends from early 1400s through 1500 and another significant phase is the High Renaissance, and it stretches from 1500 to about 1530 this was seen as the period of fulfillment of the Renaissance ideals. It brought back the ancient knowledge as foundation stone for modern intellect and thought it overhauled the social, political, cultural, economic and scientific aspects of life and through innovation transformed them in conformity with modern world. In the pre-renaissance Europe the state of education was really derelict because the established institutions that foremost included the Catholic Church stressed the need for spiritual strength and propagated that all the man's endeavors should be to achieve the Heavens in the life hereafter. But since this approach was static and not dynamic in nature; with parochial intention of maintaining church's authority over society, its impact on society was more adverse than good. Thus the policy that might have been meant for the betterment of society once was dilapidated and was cause of frustration and pessimism in society to the point of saturation until this practice was subject of acute criticism and deemed no longer viable to be pursued. It was needed to bring the change urgently because in the absence it was feared the whole society would disintegrate and be rendered useless. This way the Renaissance man felt the need that it was not sufficient to gain in spiritual domain only for personal accomplishment but rather other avenues of human faculty must be explored and encouraged to achieve goals of personal fulfillment and gratification. The renaissance did not take place in single day or short period of time nor it was the result of the efforts of a single person but it was a cumulative phenomenon that involved many different distinguished individuals who over the period of time through their intellect and rational approach were able to stimulate the masses to free themselves of the unwarranted barriers that were imposed on them by the system already undergoing deterioration and was unwilling to adjust itself with changing times. As the growing number of people understood the importance of education and the dividends it yields they flocked in great numbers to attain knowledge and consequently liberate themselves of the shackles of social, cultural, economic and political hardships. The most obvious transformation that occurred during that period was the diminishing influence of the Catholic Church over the society. This ultimately marked the beginning of a new era though many people were disgruntled and unhappy upon the realization that they were subjugated for so long by vested interests in futile; they were euphoric from the unprecedented freedom at their disposal, they were not necessarily alienated from the Christianity but they distanced themselves from the institution of church in a way that faith was no longer an hard issue in the affairs of states but was limited from the public domain to more personal terrain of individual and thus resulted into the establishment of system which was predominantly based upon secular lines and farther from religion. The essence of the renaissance was to eliminate the parochial vision of Middle Ages and open up the society to more avenues and specifically in the field of education to develop man's intellectual, spiritual, and physical powers for the enrichment of life. As the focus of education from conservative education broadened to include the liberal education as well there was tremendous outburst of new knowledge that resulted in the exploration of new avenues and fields both in literature and in sciences. With the fundamental overhaul in the basic system there were many changes in the set up of the educational practice that lead to innovative methods of teaching. Earlier to this education primarily was dealt in terms of medicine which the students were forced to undertake without their consent and to make the situation more severe the teaching methods employed generally were too stern and devoid of pleasant elements and fun. Such practices did not provide the optimum environment for learning much and discouraged students from pursuing studies. After the renaissance attempts were made to make the education system more in compliance with modern times and it was ensured that not only students be given freedom to opt for the subject of their liking by offering them diverse range of subjects and to make the education more pleasing and fun filled by adding games and extra curricular activities. The learning environment was made more cheerful and student friendly by minimizing of corporal punishment and unjust victimization of students. The changes adopted at the time of the renaissance were effective but not that dramatic as the immediate receivers of these new settings were the pupils belonging to upper class of society. The changes brought about by the renaissance episode were so massive that for the next coming two centuries the education system of Europe more or less remained complacent of their achievements and underwent stagnation. Though when these changes were implemented they were considered a huge step forward but with the passage of time the education system lost its momentum and progressed at the snail's pace. The teaching methods were mostly consisted of memorizing of words and teachers resorted to strict corporal punishment for disciplining the students. Another painful aspect of the education system at that time was that education still was more or less exclusive for the upper class and those students from lower social class background who somehow were having access to education were treated so inferiorly that their teachers were most of the time semi illiterate and used brute force compensate their shortcomings. The prevalent outlook of the whole scenario was essentially retrogressive but the emergence of dynamic intellects like John Amos Comenius (1592-1670) and John Locke (1632-1704) etc. in the course of time ensured that things take turn for good by the twentieth century. Thus what appeared to be a promising beginning and gave the impression of stagnation and dwindling future during the course of action eventually improved and progressed a lot into a system that have the capacity to change lives not only of individuals, societies, nations but of whole countries. From its humble beginnings the renaissance was able to transpire Europe into land of huge opportunities and culture. Reference: Renaissance, 2006. Retrieved from http://www.iep.utm.edu/r/renaiss.htm 18 Mar 2007 Encarta World English Dictionary & (P) 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. William Roper, "The Life of Sir Thomas More" (written by More's son-in-law ca. 1555, but first printed in 1626) Thomas More - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.htm http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Thomas_More18 Mar 2007 Baron, Hans. The Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance: Civic Humanism and Republican Liberty in an Age of Classicism and Tyranny. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966. "Education" Britannica student library. 2007.Encyclopdia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD. 18 Mar 2007 Read More