Many important ideas were developed during the renaissance. They helped Italy and a wide range of European countries develop and drift away from the beliefs of the Catholic Church during the beginning of the fifteenth and end of the sixteenth century. They also have helped develop today's society.
During the renaissance people had the idea of focusing on human achievements and potential instead of religious themes such as the human soul. This interest on humanity was called humanism. Humanist regarded the human body to be beautiful and fascinating. They looked at the world in a different way and often challenged the ways of the Catholic Church. Many of them became patrons of the arts so artists would paint and sculpt the human body. They also encouraged scientist to study the human structure. Due to the strong influence to art and science humanism brought much conflict with the human church.
Human cheek cells
Human cheek cells
From the 1543 book in the collection in National I...Another great idea of the renaissance was individualism. Individualism is the belief that an individual is more important than a group of people. This gave people the courage to change their position in life through their own effort. They believed that each person is in control of their future. Needy citizens became wealthy through trading, art, banking and many other aspects of society.
The renaissance brought many changes to science and medicine. Due to humanism and individualism people became more interested in the human body. Doctors only had limited knowledge about medicine because the church prohibited the dissection of dead people for study. However the renaissance spirit of curiosity gradually showed itself when doctors and professors disobeyed the teachings of the church and decided to dissect and perform experiments on humans. Andreas Vesalius was one of these professors who dissected dead humans. He learnt so much about Anatomy that he...