Exercises on Renaissance Humanism

(UEL-PR) The Renaissance, a broad artistic, literary and scientific movement, expanded from the Italian Peninsula to almost all of Europe, causing changes in society. On the subject, it is correct to say:

1. Renaissance rationalism reinforced the principle of authority of theological science and medieval tradition.
2. There was a rescue, by Renaissance intellectuals, of medieval ideals linked to the dogmas of Catholicism, especially in the theocentric conception of the world.
3. In this period, the idea of ​​the citizen man was reaffirmed, which ended up weakening the senses of national and cultural identity, which contributed to the end of absolute monarchies.
4. Humanism preached the determination of human actions by the divine and denied that man had the ability to act on the world, transforming it according to his will and interest.
5. Students of the period sought support in observation, in the experimental model and in rational reflection, valuing nature and the human being.

(Centec-BA) Read the text below in order to answer the two questions that will be presented below.

“Theologians, therefore, were all concerned with souls and with God, that is, with the transcendent world, the world of spiritual and immaterial phenomena. Humanists, in turn, turned to the here and now, to the concrete world of human beings struggling with each other and with nature, in order to have greater control over their own destiny. On the other hand, the preaching of the traditional clergy reinforced the total submission of man, firstly, to divine omnipotence, secondly, to the guidance of the clergy and, thirdly, to the tutelage of the nobility, exalting in human beings, above all, the values piety, meekness and discipline. The attitude of the humanists was completely different, they valued what was divine in each man, inducing him to expand his forces, to create and to produce, acting on the world to transform it according to his will and interest.”

(SEVCENKO, p. 15)

I. In the text, the outstanding feature of the humanist-renaissance movement is:

1. critical spirit aimed at stimulating change.
2. supremacy of the spiritual world over the material.
3. appreciation of piety, meekness and discipline.
4. defense of the medieval Church and culture.
5. reproduction of the dogmatic belief of medieval theologians.

II. The criticism of the humanists was aimed at society:

1. capitalist.
2. feudal.
3. communist.
4. slave.
5. socialist.

Despite having emerged more strongly from the 15th century onwards, humanism has its roots in ideologies produced even in the 13th century, in which the work of:

1. Saint Augustine.
2. Rene Descartes.
3. Saint Thomas Aquinas.
4. Nicholas Copernicus.
5. Giordano Bruno.

(Fuvest-SP, adapted) Read the texts below carefully.

1. “There are many wonders but none are as wonderful as man. [...] a man of inexhaustible ingenuity and arts [...] alone knew how to learn to use speech and thought faster than the wind [...] sagacious in a certain way in inventiveness beyond what would be expected and in skill, which leads him sometimes to evil, sometimes to good [...].”

SOPHOCLES, Antigone , 497-406 BC

2. “This farsighted, sagacious, complex, penetrating animal, endowed with memory, able to reason and reflect, to which we give the name of man [...] unique among all the living and among all animal natures, he alone reasons and thinks. Now, what is more divine than reason, which, when it reaches maturity and its perfection, is rightly called wisdom?”

CICERO, On the Law , 106-46 BC

3. “I have not given you, Adam, nor a predetermined place, nor any prerogatives. [...] You yourself will establish your laws without being constrained by any obstacle, according to your free will, to whose dominion I have entrusted you [...]. You can degenerate in the manner of inferior things, which are the brutes, or you can, according to your will, regenerate yourself in the manner of the superiors, which are divine.”

MIRANDOLA, Pico della, On the dignity of man , 1463-1494.

The texts above present common elements about the authors' view of human beings. Against these elements, evaluate the statements below.

I – The three authors understand the world from the superior reasoning capacity that man has, and from his potential for action on other animals and on nature.

II – The third author states that despite the ability of free will that Adam has, he would be incapable of acting autonomously, being always dependent on the will and destiny imposed by God .

III – The three texts expose a theocentric vision of the world.

1. if all alternatives are correct.
2. if all alternatives are incorrect.
3. if only alternatives I and II are correct.
4. if only alternatives II and III are incorrect.
5. if only alternative I is incorrect.

Letter E . The renaissance was based mainly on the criticism of knowledge subordinated to religious dogmas, asserting on the contrary that it was possible to produce scientific knowledge through observation and the use of reason, thus overcoming religious precepts about science.

Letter A . The text makes it clear that humanists overcame religious influence in the construction of knowledge, focusing on the human capacity for creation and production.

Letter B . Humanists were in opposition to the practices and ideologies produced during feudalism, culturally controlled by the Catholic Church.

Letter C. Saint Thomas Aquinas, through scholasticism, intended to combine Aristotle's teachings with the Christian religion, explaining religious concepts through logical precepts.

Letter D . The texts are examples of a humanist conception, in which man is the center of the universe, thus guaranteeing the potential for altering the world and his own destiny.