Modern Philosophy: Renaissance and Reformation

Introduction to Modern Philosophy

• Modern philosophers shifted their focus from seeking the first principles of being to exploring the first principles of human knowledge.
• René Descartes initiated this "epistemological turn" in a groundbreaking manner with his Meditations on First Philosophy (1641).

Renaissance and Reformation

• Medieval Western philosophy primarily complemented divine revelation as a Christian philosophy.
• The Renaissance and Reformation were significant reform movements during the 15th and 16th centuries.
• There was a growing inclination to critique old traditions, language, art, theological systems, and church-state relations.
• Renaissance (14th-17th centuries) involved a rebirth of classical knowledge and a departure from the medieval worldview, emphasizing humanism, classical texts, scientific inquiry, and religious reform.
• Reformation (16th century) challenged the practices and authority of the Roman Catholic Church.
• The Reformation and Renaissance fostered faith in human reason, interest in natural phenomena, and a desire for progress, leading to the decline of the ecclesiastical and political structures prevalent in the Middle Ages.
• Modern philosophy highlights the dismissal of church authority and prioritizes scientific authority, as philosophy became subservient to science, unlike the medieval period when it was entwined with theology.

Modern Philosophy

• Frank Thilly described modern philosophy as an awakening of critical reflective spirit, a revolt against absolutism and collectivism, and a demand for freedom in thought, feeling, and action.
• "Modern" refers to a period contrasted with other eras, specifically the philosophy of the 1600s onwards, as opposed to ancient and medieval philosophy.
• Modern philosophy is considered to have started with Francis Bacon in England and René Descartes in France.
• Philosophers became more identified with their national origins due to the erosion of religious authority by the Protestant Reformation, and the rise of vernacular languages over Latin.

Characteristics of Modern Thought

• Post-medieval philosophers sought freedom of inquiry and thought.
• Modern philosophers increasingly used vernacular languages.
• Modern thinkers were generally not theologians.
• Emphasis shifted from theological themes to the study of man and nature, without explicit reference to God.
• Most medieval philosophers were university professors, while modern philosophers often had diverse life circumstances, like Francis Bacon, Descartes, or Locke.
• This period involved an awakening of the reflective spirit, criticism, revolt against tradition, and a plea for freedom of reason.

The Spirit of Criticism

• Modern philosophy originated as a revolt against the religion-oriented thinking of the medieval period, stemming from the intellectual awakening of the Renaissance.
• Thinkers critically examined traditions and scriptures.
• Descartes' methodic doubt influenced thinkers to question everything before accepting it as true.

The Scientific Spirit

• A key characteristic of modern philosophy is its scientific nature.
• Natural sciences became central during the post-medieval period, replacing theology as the supreme science.
• Philosophy was greatly influenced by the development of natural and physical science in the 16th and 17th centuries.
• The success of modern science led philosophers to apply scientific methods within philosophy.
• Copernicus (1543) advocated for heliocentrism.
• Galileo Galilei (1610s) supported and expanded upon Copernicus' ideas.
• Francis Bacon (1620) established the foundation for the scientific method using inductive reasoning.
• The physical sciences of the 17th and 18th centuries significantly influenced philosophical thinking, changing the perspectives of scientists and philosophers.
• Modern philosophy is scientific in its outlook, and becomes the interpreter of science, and no longer dependent on theology.

Humanism

• The rise of humanism marked by the renewed study of mathematics, medicine, and classical literature was another characteristic of modern thought.
• Humanism emphasized learning and scholarly exactness, prioritizing man over God and reason over faith.

Individualism

• Individualism grew alongside humanism as a key feature of modern philosophy.
• Modern Philosophy has largely maintained an individualistic and subjective tendency, by emancipating the authority of the Church.
• Individuals began to assert their intellectual independence.
• Modern thinkers showed an individualistic and subjective leaning, evident in Descartes' approach of building knowledge from the certainty of his existence and using clarity and distinctness as subjective criteria for truth.

Predominance of Reason

• Reason became the primary authority in philosophy and science.
• Efforts were made to develop a new philosophical method based on mathematical science to make philosophical inquiry scientific and reasonable.

Major Movements in Modern Philosophy (17th-19th centuries)

• Rationalism (Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza)
• Empiricism (Locke, Berkeley, and Hume)
• Transcendentalism/Agnosticism (Kant)
• Idealism (Fichte, Schelling, Hegel)
• Positivism (Comte, Mill, Spencer)

Major Movements in Contemporary Philosophy

• Logical positivism (Ayer)
• Linguistic analysis (Wittgenstein)
• Phenomenology (Husserl, Heidegger)
• Existentialism (Kierkegaard, Sartre, Buber)
• Post-Modernism (Derrida, Foucault)