Unit 1

Renaissance: The Origins of a Western Worldview

Lesson 1

Which traditional classical ideas helped form the Renaissance humanist worldview?

Where did the Renaissance people get their ideas? Did they think of these ideas themselves, or were they influenced by others?

As the Renaissance progressed, scholars in the city-states began to look back to the ancient Greek and Romans.

Studying the writings and art of the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations inspired Renaissance scholars to apply classical ideas (from the Greek and Roman classical periods) about society, history, politics, and the arts to their own lives and work.

Renaissance scholars were also interested in the knowledge that had been preserved by the Islamic civilizations, especially in science, math, and medicine.

Lesson 1 is about the kinds of ideas that formed the "new way of thinking".

Watch

Humanism was a way of thinking about the world that became important during the Renaissance.

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Click the link to watch the video, Humanism in the Renaissance: Recognizing the Beauty of the Individual.

Stop the video at 2:28.