What Made the Renaissance in Europe?

Abstract

The European Renaissance is often considered to be the crucial era that led to the emergence of the modern world. The standard view of the Renaissance is that it was the rebirth in Western Europe of Hellenic and Hellenistic philosophy, literature, arts, and sciences after a long intervening period following the collapse of Rome and the rise of scholastic philosophy in the thirteenth century. During the intervening period—often characterized in the past as the “Dark Ages,” although more recent histories tend to see important developments in this period that paved the way for the future course of European history—this heritage is considered to have been carried by the Arabic civilization, which, although adding to it in minor ways, did not develop it too far. When this fossilized heritage was returned to its rightful cultural progeny in Europe, it became revitalized once more and led to the intellectual revolution that produced modern science and philosophy.