Humanism

Monday's class was centered around the concept of "renaissance" and one of the main topics of this time, humanism.  I was most surprised to hear so much about God and how much religion played a part in these times.  Even the philosophers’ ideas seemed to be connected to God and were not very far from what I believe as a Christian.  Plato’s ideas were very fascinating about the two worlds.  The statement was made that, “Ideals are more real than matter.”  This really got me to thinking, especially since I often feel people are telling me that my standards for people, especially when looking for a spouse in the future, are too lofty and not attainable.  While there will never be a “perfect” person, just going with the first person, no matter their qualities is not giving the world very much of a chance to what else might be out there.  I feel this idea is in fact encouraging us to shoot for the best.   I also felt that the three concept line-up shows the importance of God/religion in all that we do.

                Now try to answer the question that was proposed at the end of class, “How can we reconcile art with the three concept pattern of humanism?”…  I agree with Plato that art is not as good as the real thing, but I also see the benefits of it.  There are many things that because of living situations and geography, a person may never see them unless it is in the form of some sort of art.  I would say that art could be described by the three concepts of humanism.  It is good, is most often truthful of how the object/subject looks in reality, and it is most often considered to have beauty, at least by some people.  Also, I think the whole idea of focusing on the ideal applies to art because an artist is able to create the subject to look better than the common type you might come across in everyday life.  Looking forward to discussing Petrarch’s writing, which I am currently reading through.