Early Modern World: Similarities Between The Renaissance And The Enlightenment

The early modern world can best be described through the periods of Renaissance and the Enlightenment. The Renaissance was a cultural movement that originally began in Italy in the end of the medieval period and later spread throughout northwestern Europe in the beginning of the early modern period (PWH, p. 496). In contrast, the Enlightenment is regarded as a philosophical and intellectual movement that dominated Europe in the 18th century(PWH, p.673). The transformation from the medieval period into the early modern period can be best represented through the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, both from which emerged the idea of individualism, a principle seeking to promote the worth of the individual through individual thought and reason.
For instance, in Galileo Galilei’s letter to the Duchess of Tuscany, Galileo defends his belief in the heliocentric model that was initially discovered by Nicolaus Copernicus, who correctly hypothesized that the sun was at the center of the universe rather than the earth, which is what was traditionally believed up to that point due to evidence found in the bible. In his letter, Galileo portrays many individualistic like qualities by refusing to accept what was considered “the norm” and instead pursued his own ideas and beliefs about the heliocentric model despite being heavily criticized by the church and their followers for going against what the bible had said. Additionally, Galileo suggests that not everything in the bible should be taken so literally and believed that the bible is open to interpretation.(Galileo, p. 20-21). Galileo shows individualistic thoughts here as well as never before was there this idea that the bible is open to interpretation. Moreover, this idea by Galileo acted as a turning point in history as more and more people started to question the true meanings of the bible as time went on in the early modern period, leading to an increased amount of secularism and eventually the separation between church and state in many countries (Mancia, Class, 9/21/15). Rather, Galileo believed that God gave us a brain in order to use it to help understand the world better, further promoting ideas of
The sudden wave of interest in the individual accomplishments and discoveries during the early modern period differed greatly from the interest in the church during the medieval period. In the middle ages, people used to gather together in the church to pray, illustrating religion as a source of unification,whereas in the Enlightenment, were gathering to witness a new discovery or invention. By celebrating an individual’s discovery, one is essentially celebrating the individualism put on display by those individuals as individualism is what encourages such discoveries in the first place This is further illustrated in Benjamin Franklin’s description of the day the first hot air balloon was launched into the air, noting that “never before was a philosophical experiment so magnificently attended,” noting the large amount of public interest generated due to the uniqueness in this experiment (Franklin, p.41).
Additionally, the early modern period is a period which saw an increase in the power of the king and a decrease in the power of the church from that of the middle ages, leading to an absolute monarchy held by the king or government, whom oppose individualistic thoughts and ideas. For instance, in Common Sense, written by Thomas Paine, Paine discusses the “distinction of men into king and subjects” in colonial America with King George III