Renaissance

Consider the changing relationship between intellectual authority and the individual in European thought during the Renaissance. Medieval monastic culture placed great stress on the role of authority. This emphasis is reduced during the High Middle Ages, but is still considerable at the time of the Renaissance. Italian Renaissance Humanism increases the emphasis on the individual, and the “new” ancient texts brought to Europe at this time have a profound effect on European views of intellectual authority.

Choose two figures from the late Italian Renaissance or the Northern Renaissance, and show how their work demonstrates the increasing intellectual confidence in the individual during the period. Choose from among the following: Ficino, Pico, Machiavelli, Thomas More, Erasmus, Luther, Montaigne.

use these two sources for 2 out of the 5 sources.
Ernst Cassirer, Renaissance philosophy of Man ISBN 978-0226096049

Christine de Pisan, Book of the City of Ladies ISBN 978-0140446890