The Dark Ages

Thus, it was unsurprising to find that Pope Sixtus IV built a library that still remains as one of the richest repositories holding ancient, medieval documents. This movement of humanism was largely praise because the viewed humanity through a Christian lens as Renaissance humanists strongly believed that men and woman were made in the image and likeness of God. For example, Pico Mirandola represented man as one in possession of great dignity in his essay, ‘On the Dignity of Man’. Further, Renaissance humanism caused individuals to become increasingly self-conscious about their current lifestyles and their realization of human potential. Humanism heavily influenced much of the Renaissance culture, causing people to depend upon intellect its role in humanity breakthroughs.

Throughout time an individual’s role in which he fits into society has changed. One of the most noticeable changes in an individual’s role in society occurred during the Italian Renaissance during the 14th and 15th centuries with the introduction of Humanism. Humanism gave birth to the concept of individuality a notion which is still alive today. It said that humans mattered and that now mattered, that one should not be part of a whole but rather someone that is unique. Before Humanism people only thought of the after life, of whether they were going to heaven or hell, but with the introduction of Humanism people became more involved in the present, rather then just thinking of what happened after you died. Humanism transformed

At some point in time we have all wondered what it means to human, and what we are supposed to do with our lives. Throughout the centuries, there have been gradual changes in what it means to be human. Through Pico della Mirandola we will how man became the measure and took the place of God, through Charles Darwin we will see how nature and science began to take the place of man, and through the art of Friedrich we can visually see all of these changes.

There is many examples of evidence to support how Europe wasn’t in a dark age. To support this claim there are some examples. The Government ,The Rise of University, and the Gothic Cathedrals shows that Europe was not in a dark age. One reason Europe was not in a dark age was because if it was in a dark age they wouldn't know to stand up for themselves. They also had a lot of money, even though King John took it all proving that they were not in a dark age.They were also beginning to request laws so they can have some rights. According to the Black Death Documents,"To all free men of our kingdom we have also granted, for us and to our heirs for ever, all the liberties written out below, to have and to keep for them and their heirs.”Another

4. The Romans hired foreign soldiers to help protect their borders. What term describes such a

was a period in time that came right after the fall of the Roman Empire. The Dark Ages were not

Pico della Mirandola in his work, “Oration on the Dignity of Man”, re-evaluates humanism and humans in general. His work talks about the dignity of man in particular and how man differs from other creatures as man is a creation with a unique and important trait, free will. He uses several arguments to support his claim that humans can choose their destiny and in doing so can achieve perfection. He presents a piece of work that challenges the medieval view of human nature.

1a. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola says that human beings are free to become whatever or whomever they may choose to be. In his work, Oration on the Dignity of Man, Mirandola discusses how as a human being you have “no limit or no bound” and “may choose for yourself the limits and bounds of your nature” He believes that God created humans with no fixed position in life and that the choices they make during their journey will define whether they fall into high or low positions on the chain of life.

Although it is unclear of the exact origins, the author provides that throughout history, the concept of human dignity has changed throughout time and has held different meaning in different eras like the Renaissance, and by different people like Hobbes and Kant. In addition, for instance, human dignity, was a theological theme developed by the church produced through faithful reflection on revealed truth rather than scripture.

The Christian religions rise to supremacy in the middle ages was the result of several factors. Christians had long been persecuted by the Roman Empire because the Romans felt that Christianity challenged and offended the Greco-Roman Gods and the Christians were prone to revolt against Roman rule. Christianity survived because it had many teachings that appealed to the downtrodden in Roman society, these teachings being that even though they were suffering they would gain equality and possibly superiority in the next life, Christianity gave them hope.

Those who believe in the Dark Ages myth (hereinafter “myth believers”) argue that Greek and Roman intellectuals were on the verge of great scientific and industrial advancements. Myth believers argue that those who followed religious beliefs created a false reality dominated by religious emotion rather than fact. They claim that the Catholic Church persecuted those who used scientific discoveries to bring about new ideas solely because the new discoveries and ideas conflicted the Bible’s teachings. Myth believers support their claims by referring to the alleged persecution of three well-known intellectuals during the Dark Ages: Galileo, Hypatia and Giordano Bruno. These three intellectuals’ stories vary based on who is telling them; myth

In Recurring Dark Ages, Chew has a complex analogy that dark ages will occur resulting in a social collapse, and ironically there will be more than one. Certain aspects that are focused on when determining a dark age is; there will be an economic slowdown and the political stability is interrupted. Recurrences of a dark age is very likely because according to Chew it has already repeated 3 times. He brings up the collapse of the Roman Empire just like Dixon and analysis that the rapid growth will use to much energy. This will then lead to what he called de-urbanization; there will be people moving out of cities causing a decline due to limited resources compared to what there once was to keep people living. Movements to the country side became

Pico, through God, states that, unlike all of the other creatures, man has the power ("you have your own free will") to choose their place in The Great Chain of Being, be it high ("to rise again to the superior orders") or low ("brutish forms of life"). 4) Pico's Oration on the Dignity of Man is often called the "Manifesto of the Renaissance". This is because it turns all of the attention to the human capacity, the human

The Dark Ages was a duration on religious struggle. Orthodox Christians yet Catholics seen the generation out of elevated perspectives. Orthodox Christians considered this time so a duration concerning Catholic corruption; it repudiated the approaches concerning the Catholic Church with its papal doctrines then

Neoplatonism represented a turn away from the practical concerns of civic humanists to an exploration of the grand ideals of truth and perfection (Chambers 397). Pico della Mirandola believed the universe to be ordered in a hierarchy, with every being in the universe holding a compulsion to seek perfection. These ideals, along with other ideals of Neoplatonism, were extremely prevalent within Pico della Mirandola’s work. One of Pico della Mirandola’s most influential works, Oration on the Dignity of Man, promoted many of his ideas and those of Neoplatonism; Pico’s Oration is commonly referred to as “...the ‘Manifesto of the Renaissance' [and] is widely regarded as a beautiful declaration of the greatness of human freedom and ability” (Truglia 158). Two ideas are central to the Oration: free will and the deification of