Pursuit of Individualism and Objectivity

Pursuit of Individualism and Objectivity in European Renaissance

In the late Middle Ages, during the late 14th century, Europe, particularly Italy, had experienced "rebirth" after a series of chaos that is the Black Plague have wiped out the whole of European Civilization. Popularly called the Renaissance, this rebirth had spurred growth not only in the European population, but also in the emergence of "unprecedented ideological expansion" (Kagan, 1995:356).

In effect, with the development of ideologies that helped flourish European civilization during the Renaissance, this paper looks closely at two important ideologies that helped promote significant political, economic, and scientific revolutions in the continent for the next centuries. These two important ideologies are individualism and objectivity. The first ideology helped improve the state of natural philosophy and culture of Europe, while the latter helped develop the pursuit for science and empiricism.

Individualism and objectivity have become the ideology of human society for the last seven centuries. True to Burckhardt's claim in 1860 that the Renaissance is the "birth of the modern world," these two ideologies have reigned superior in every aspect of human life, even influencing the life that we lead at present, now that human society is in the Information Age. Individualism and objectivity are directly linked with each other, where the occurrence of the former ultimately leads to the development of the latter. The texts that follow provide illustrations that show how individualism helped celebrate human society's culture and objectivity, the development of an empirical and scientific human society.

Individualism has become the bastion of the notion of liberalism and individual rights that human society enjoys today. It is an offshoot from the humanist studies, defined as "the celebration of the dignity of humankind and preparing people for a life of virtuous action" (Kagan, 1995:360). In the pursuit of individualism, Renaissance proponents have been known to cultivate European culture and arts, specifically on the areas of grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, politics, moral philosophy, and fine arts.

Literature has been the medium through which philosophies on morality have been expressed. Moral philosophical writings of Francesco Petrarch, Dante Alighieri, and Giovanni Boccaccio depict the sentiments of European society at the time, where there is rigid conformity to established rules and norms and is highly conservative since Europeans at the time are strictly adheres to Christianity and its teachings.

Petrarch is known as the first modern poet in the world of literature and the father of humanism in Europe. He is given credit for perfecting the sonnet form of poetry and infusing Medieval Christian values in it. He has written the "Letters to the Ancient Dead," a Latin epic poem entitled "Africa," and "Lives of Illustrious Men," which is a set of biographies of famous Romans. Dante Alighieri, Petrarch's contemporary, is most popular for his classic epic poem, "Divine Comedy." "Divine Comedy" is the poet's imaginative narrative of his journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven. The poem is also aptly divided into three sections, corresponding to each level of his journey: "Inferno" (hell), "Purgatorio" (purgatory), and "Paradiso" (heaven). Dante's famous work serves as a literary guide to Christian theology, purification of one's soul, and guidance in life through reason and love.

Boccaccio's "Decameron" is a detailed account of 100 tales by 10 people (three men and seven women) as they hide in the midst of the plague in Florence in 1348. In this famous literary work reminiscent of the Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," Boccaccio reveals to his readers issues on "sexual and economic misconduct" that plague human society during the time. These social issues become the "plague" that infects human society, a literary allusion to the plague happening in Europe at the same period (362).

The works of Petrarch, Dante, and Boccaccio illustrate how individual sentiments regarding the social issues that pervade Europe at the time has helped increase awareness of secular religious thought and blatant criticism of humanity's ills and wrongdoings. Their works serve as "eye-openers" in which people are able to reflect on the lives of Europeans during the early development of its civilization in terms of culture and the arts.

Apart from literary arts, individualism is also most evident in the field of education. The development of educational institutions, spearheaded by the Florentine Academy, an informal organization of humanists, helped celebrate human reason in combination of mathematical and moral truths. The conceptualization of an educational institution as the formal venue for human reasoning and thought to be cultivated began with Plato's concept of the Academy. As Renaissance thinkers and humanist began using Greek studies as the foundation for European culture and society's rebirth, informal educational institutions such as Florentine Platonic Academy and religious schools have been established to harness the humanists' skills in critical thinking and further explore ways in which people can best express their individuality (363).

Objectivity is the result of the birth of individualism during the Renaissance period. As European society learned to cultivate and give importance to their ability to reason and think critically, objectivity began to develop, as people learned how every social experience became an avenue for new discoveries to formulate. Objectivity is best manifested through the development of the natural sciences during the Renaissance (also termed as the natural philosophies).

In the same manner that moral philosophy flourished during the Renaissance, this period also gave birth to the natural philosophies, which have later developed to become the natural sciences. Aristotle, Greek philosopher and scientist, is known for becoming one of the main proponents of empiricism and the scientific method. Educated under Plato's the Academy, Aristotle is well-known for his works concerning the field of biology, and is also the proposed the discipline of empiricism and formalism.

Empiricism, which is a form of obtaining human knowledge through sensory experience, is the root of objective thinking and scientific method of discovery. Formalism is another discipline derived from the scientific method, wherein rational deduction about the nature of things in life is best explained. Using these disciplines, Aristotle sought to compile all his studies and observations concerning the study of natural philosophies and sciences through his work, "Problemata" (Grafton, 1999:171). "Problemata" is a collection of problems concerning various, commonly-occurring natural phenomena in question-and-answer format. Problems presented in Aristotle's compilation are characterized as asking "...not about the existence or nature of a fact, but about the cause of a fact... [t]he resolution of problemata involves the manipulation of the common pool of Aristotelian and Hippocratic notions of about nature and human physiology... Ancient problemata are strictly naturalistic..." (173-4).