Ridling, Philosophy Then and Now: A Look Back at 26 Centuries of Thought
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the divine power of the god. The historical importance of this equation cannot
be overestimated. If one concept may be said to have integrated all the varied
manifestations of Renaissance culture and given organic unity to the period, it
was this definition of art as power. With this definition in mind, one may
understand why Renaissance humanists and painters assigned themselves such
self-consciously heroic roles: in their artistic ability to delight, to captivate, to
convince, they saw themselves as enfranchised directors and remakers of
culture. One may also understand why a humanist-artist-scientist like Alberti
would have seen no real distinction between the various disciplines he
practiced. As profoundly interconnected means of understanding nature and
humanity, and as media for effective reform and renewal, these disciplines
were all components of an encompassing art. A similar point may be made
about Machiavelli, who wrote a book about the “art” of warfare and who used
history and logic to develop an art of government, or about the brilliant
polymath Paracelsus, who spent his whole career perfecting an art that would
comprehend all matter and all spirit. With the equation of art and power in
mind, finally, one may understand why a revolutionary scientist like Galileo
(1564-1642) put classical and medieval science through a winnowing fan,
keeping only such components as allowed for physically reproducible results.
Since every Renaissance art aimed for a dominion or conquest, it was
completely appropriate that science should leave its previously contemplative
role and focus upon the conquest of nature.
Humanism benefited the development of science in a number of more
specific ways. Alberti’s technological applications of mathematics, and his
influential statement that mathematics was the key to all sciences, grew out of
his humanistic education at Padua. Vittorino, another student at Padua, went
on to make mathematics a central feature of his educational program.