Francesco Petrarch Lived in Florence

Francesco Petrarch lived in Florence between 1304 and 1374 and he is mostly known for a series of love sonnets he wrote to Laura. In addition to this he also translated several Classical works and wrote letters to other influential Renaissance individuals, with Boccaccio being among the most influential.

Peter Paul Vergerio lived between 1374 and 1444 and was most recognized for his teaching in a series of Italian universities. He emphasized the importance of Liberal Arts by insisting that medieval education was outdated and had a negative effect on individuals.

Baldesar Castiglione lived between 1478 and 1529 and focused on providing society with a more complex understanding of attitudes required in court life. His "The Book of the Courtier" made it possible for his contemporaries to be able to understand behaviors that were considered correct while in court.

Niccolo Machiavelli was most recognized for writing "The Prince," a text that was meant to teach leaders with regard to the strategies they needed to use in order to experience positive results while ruling.

2. Machiavelli and Castiglione were each focused on different matters throughout their lives as the former wanted to emphasize the need for scrupulousness while the other concentrated on courtly behavior. Petrarch's thinking was in agreement with Castiglione's thinking when considering that they both expressed interest in the importance of ideas like honor. Vergerio somewhat agreed to both Castiglione and Machiavelli's thinking by supporting innovative ideas.

Baldesar Castiglione's "Discourse on Love" is focused on the idea of a perfect courtier and on a series of attributes that such an individual is required to have. Some of the principal concepts emphasized here relate to a courtier's need to have a complex understanding of reason and manners. Castiglione virtually wants people to acknowledge that there are several natural talents that a courtier would be required to have in order for people interacting with him to appreciate his character. The writer wants to display the archetypal Renaissance man as possessing attributes that distinguishes him from the masses and that play an important role in helping him improve conditions wherever he goes.

Niccolo Machiavelli's "The Prince" stresses that the Renaissance man has to be well-acquainted with his powers in order to be able to put them into practice whenever he has the chance to do so. Machiavelli believed that a Prince should embrace unscrupulousness as one of the most important values that he can possibly think of. From his perspective, a successful Renaissance person needed to be able to spot opportunities and take advantage of them, regardless of the moral nature of his actions.

3. Pico della Mirandola used "Oration on the Dignity of Man" in an attempt to raise public awareness concerning the immense potential present in all people. He emphasized knowledge and philosophy as two of the most important tools that people could use in their struggle to achieve higher states and to improve society as a whole. According to the text, people should be more sensible with regard to the idea of self-discovery and they should employ more of their resources in trying to rediscover themselves and make the world a better place as a result.

Pico and Castiglione were correct in putting across more moral attitudes toward the archetypal Renaissance man and it is obvious that they were both interested in becoming an active part of a society that valued honor and morality more than material values. They both contradicted Machiavellian thinking by putting across such ideas and emphasized that the safest road to having a peaceful society would be to promote knowledge as one of humanity's most powerful tools.

There are also a lot of parallels between Pico's text and Vergerio and Petrarch, as they were all focused on changing society's understanding of the condition that it was in at the time. These individuals promoted the belief that it was in people's best interest to concentrate on putting across thinking that reflected positively on the world and that moral thinking played an essential role in changing the way that the social order functioned. Humanist writers wanted people to learn to enjoy life's pleasures without focusing on material values.

Even with the fact that Castiglione partly agree to Pico by stating that reason and knowledge were essential factors in this process, the former actually seems to focus on a more profit-motivated attitude while the latter is apparently interested in having people acknowledge the need for more moral values.

Castiglione, Machiavelli, and Pico all had different perspectives concerning the attitudes that the Renaissance man needed to employ in order to experience positive results as he was trying to discover his personal identity. In contrast to both of them, Machiavelli did not hesitate to emphasize the fact that his understanding of a perfect future would be one in which a leader would be extensively familiarized with information needed for him to exercise control over his subjects with little to no problems.

Machiavelli, however, felt that it would have been absurd for people to think like this and devised "The Prince" with the purpose to influence Lorenzo de Medici to accept that ruthlessness and an authoritarian attitude are very important factors distinguishing a leader who is likely to fail from one who is probable to experience success. A conversation with Machiavelli would surely be pointless, taking into account his strong determination and the fact that he prefers to see life as something that people should exploit to the fullest with no regard to the suffering that such behavior provokes.

B. 1. Jackob Burkhardt considered that the Renaissance period needed to be taken as a distinct period rather than being indentified chronologically. One of the main factors influencing him to take on this attitude was the significant difference between this period and the Medieval era. According to Burkhardt, individuals in the Middle Ages had a limited understanding of their personal identity, but rapidly came to experience a self-discovery process as the Renaissance period started. Italy in particular was a location that encouraged such behaviors, and, from Burkhardt's point-of-view, this change would have been impossible in any other location from around the world.