Renasissance

Though they have similar intentions, Petrarch, Mirandola, and Rabelais were three very diverse original scholars. They all supported humanism. “Humanism is the term generally applied to the predominant social philosophy and intellectual and literary currents of the period from 1400 to 1650. The return to favor of the pagan classics stimulated the philosophy of secularism, the appreciation of worldly pleasures, and above all intensified the assertion of personal independence and individual expression.”(Kreis) In a nutshell, the focus on secularism and Greek as well as Rome pop culture. These writers criticized and critiqued their era, showing their views on human nature.

All three of the writers were strong humanists, they found it necessary to study the art of classical learning. They believed Romans and Greeks had a superior way of thinking, writing, and living. Mirandola studied what Hermes and Saracen thought of the human race, by this he showed how he studied human writers and their writings. Rabelais believed that in order to be able to succeed in life one must study classical learning. “Now every method of teaching has been restored, and the study of languages has been revived:of Greek, without which it is disgraceful for a an to call himself a scholar, and of Hebrew, and Latin.”(Rabelais 291) He states that if people want to be scholars they should learn a many of languages, Hebrew, Greek, as well as Latin. Petrach, like the other two humanists, believed that the classical scholars lead successful lives and that we should model our lives off of their works, philosophies and education. Petrarch, Mirandola, and Rabelais greatly respected the writers and philosophers of antiquity.

Mirandola, Petrarch, and Rabelais criticized and edited their era in a variety of ways. Petrarch compared their period of time to times of old. This is shown when Petrach starts of saying work is, "O inglorious age! That scorns antiquity its mother, to whom it owes every noble art"( Petrarch 278) Petrarch is comparing modern times to a child who does not acknowledge or respect his mother, but the child owes his whole life to his mother and her ideas, which mother being antiquity. Rabelais begs of us that we should become a “perfect master of languages” and that we should study liberal arts. He also asks that we should “keep our memory well stocked with every tale from history, and here you will find help in the Cosmographes.”(Rabelais 291) Which shows a focus on the significance of history and being able to recall historical events. Mirandola believed that humans can shape their own lives with their freewill, he does not make any obvious critiques on humanity but he says, “Thou,constrained by no limits, in accordance with thine own free will, in whose hand we have placed thee, shall ordain for thyself the limits of thy nature.” ( Pico Della Mirandola 283) He seems to imply that humans have the power of Gods, which would be a sin. In the eyes Petrarch, Mirandola, and Rabelais the modern era, in which they were living had regressed since the times of antiquity.

Human nature was a topic all three of the authors covered.. “Such are the critics of today, as I so often have occasion to lament and complain-men who are innocent of knowledge and