The goal of the Enlightenment is to make the whole nation more educated. That is why the significance of the Enlightenment in general for the whole cultural process in the world is very great. Thanks to him, the cultural framework, which previously covered only a small section of society, has expanded noticeably. It is thanks to such a concept as the Enlightenment that the definitions of “cultural” and “educated” could refer to any person who is striving to enrich his inner world, even if this person had little means.

Equality is what the Enlightenment brought to life. Just the notion of equality and became the key to further cultural development. The fact that all people are initially equal to each other and have the same rights to further development as individuals, and served as the basis for creating the ideals of the Enlightenment. Who was the ideal of this era, which is often called the “century of Reason”? Of course, a person who distinguishes the ability of an animal to think rationally. It is he who possesses not only physical, but also spiritual power.

According to many thinkers, the Enlightenment is the main engine of social progress.

For example, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) wrote that “Enlightenment is a person’s exit from the state of his minority…”. And “minority” is “the inability to use one’s mind without leadership on the part of someone else”. According to I. Kant, in this minority, a person “is on his own fault”, solely because of “lack of determination and courage to use” independently by his own intellect.

This desire for independence, the participation of each person in the reconstruction of the surrounding world through the possibilities of his reason, and has led to a radical change in the religious perception and thinking of the people. One of the extremes of these changes is the emergence of atheist enlighteners who denied religious beliefs and cults and, contrary to these ideas, placed human beings above all else. As a consequence, the appearance in the Age of Enlightenment of a new form of faith – deism. The Enlightener-deists did not deny the existence of God as the world’s mind, and also that it is the root cause of the world. That is, according to deists, God is the creator of the world as a kind of “machine”, to which he defined the laws of its movement. Any further intervention of God in the arrangement of this “machine” by the deists is rejected, here a man comes to the fore who is making his own corrections.

It is worth noting that the Enlightenment era was characterized by optimistic sentiment associated with the belief that a person can be changed for the better. No wonder there was another definition of the Enlightenment as a “golden age of utopia”. This utopia primarily concerned a change in the political and social foundations. A harmonious society that lives by reason, with a sense of responsibility for each individual, is the ideal social system of Utopian enlighteners. But despite the great desire to receive such a society, many Utopians, for example, Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), believed little in his ability.

The feudal system gave way to a new bourgeois type of economic relations. But this transition was not very smooth. It was preceded not by gradual progressive transformations, but by real upheavals that touched various aspects of human life.

The Age of Enlightenment, which began with the last revolution in England (1689), later included three revolutions:

1) industrial in England;

2) political in France;

3) philosophical and aesthetic in Germany.

But the Enlightenment affected not only the social structure of society, but also cultural development.

In philosophy, the leadership of rationalism has emerged, which replaced metaphysics. In other words, it was the mind that became the basis of people’s knowledge and behavior. Only the mind recognized the decisive word, both in life, and in science, and even in religion.

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Writing an essay on social studies is one of the tasks of entrance examinations to a university or college. This is a creative work that allows you to assess the current level of student knowledge: his ability to own and use terminology, express his thoughts and argue them.

In what sequence should I write an essay?

The structure of writing an essay on social studies:

1. Thesis.

Choosing a quote for an essay, you need to be sure that you understand its meaning. Think about whether you will be able to express your own opinion on this matter, reasonably refute the statement or agree with it, justifying your position.

2. The meaning of the quote.

Next, we should formulate our interpretation of the main idea of the utterance, which is based on personal understanding and general impression of the quotation. It should be remembered that the originality of the interpretation arises naturally in a profound analysis, the desire to understand the theme and be imbued with it.

3. Argumentation of his position.

After the disclosure of the main idea of the statement follows the presentation of their opinion and its rationale. In this case, you can fully agree with the author, you can do it partially, or you cannot agree, but categorically refute the statement. It should be borne in mind that when writing an essay for admission it is much easier to accept the statement and find a competent justification in the form of experience and personal sensations than to refute the quote of a knowingly intelligent person. When uttering the opposite opinion than the author of the quote, it is necessary to more thoroughly confirm and argue his point of view, paying attention to details and viewing the statement from various positions.

Justification of your opinion can occur on two levels:

Theoretical. At the same time, knowledge of social science is used: concepts, opinions of scientists, etc.

Empirical. Here you can use both the experience that exists in the history of society or literature, and your own experience.

Tip 1: when using social science terms, you should be sure of their correct understanding and appropriate use, you do not need to overload the essay with terminology.

Tip 2: when choosing any historical facts or events from personal experience, one should pay attention to their credibility in confirming their own opinion, reasonableness and consistency.

4. Conclusion

In conclusion of the essay on social studies, it is necessary to briefly formulate a conclusion summarizing all the reflections.

An example of an essay plan on social studies

1. Introduction.

The essence of this statement from the standpoint of social science is….

The choice of the topic is explained… The topic is undoubtedly relevant…

2. The main part.

In my opinion, the author of the statement… I agree with the opinion… This can be refuted…

Here are other opinions on the stated problem, terms and concepts from the social sciences, their own experience.

3. Conclusion: conclusion and generalization.

Thus, the above examples confirm…

Writing tips

The most important thing is to train regularly in writing essays, handing them over to the teacher for testing, and paying attention to the development of his remarks.

Observe the logical sequence of presentation, do not jump from one example to another.

Do not write all the essays on the draft: sketch out only the plan and the main ideas.

Give an example for each theoretical postulate.

Learn to adequately and objectively evaluate both your own and others’ essays.

Read the criteria for assessing the essay on social studies and pay attention to each point in the writing process.

Do not get confused in terms and concepts of social science.

Practice revealing the meaning of the statement on any aphorisms.

Watch the news, memorize the examples from the lessons that you can use as evidence of your position.

Criteria for evaluating the essay at the entrance examinations in 2018

Essays, as a creative composition, from other ways of controlling knowledge are distinguished by the ability to diagnose the ability of students to analyze information, intelligently interpret it, build reasoning and argue in the form of correctly selected facts, formulate their own opinion and defend their position.

Thus, for effective preparation for an essay on social studies, you should train in writing them as often as possible, following the above-listed advice and adhering to the required structure. However, this isn’t the only way to “fill your hand” and go to the exam with confidence. Alternatively, you may buy the ready written unique papers at essay writing service and free some time for yourself.

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In this article, we want to briefly highlight the key points of the Renaissance, and to tell interesting facts from this historical period.

Renaissance briefly

Immediately need to say that the era of the Renaissance of European culture was of global significance. The exact years of the Renaissance cannot be established, especially since for each European state they are different. However, it is commonly believed that the Renaissance began in the 14th century, and ended in the early 17th century.

What was the beginning of this period? First of all, the fact that secular religious fanaticism was replaced by secular culture and humanism.

Anthropocentrism (that is, a person occupies a central place in all cultural and scientific research) has become the dominant ideology.

It is then that the interest in the forgotten ancient culture is revived. Actually, this is what the term “Renaissance” comes about.

Speaking briefly about the Renaissance, its main phenomenon was that after the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the Byzantines who fled to various European powers, began to distribute their libraries. Namely, they contained many ancient sources, which in Europe at that time were practically unknown.

In the cities, various scientific and cultural centers, operating independently of the church, began to appear and gain momentum. This movement began in Italy.

Conventionally, the Renaissance can be divided into 4 stages:

1. Protorenaissance (2nd half of XIII century – XIV century)
2. Early Renaissance (early 15th – end of the 15th century)
3. High Revival (the end of the XV – the first 20 years of the XVI century)
4. Later, the Renaissance (mid-16th-1590s)

With complete certainty, we can say that the Renaissance has had a tremendous impact on all the states of Europe.

In fact, the Renaissance is a transition from the feudal social order to the bourgeois. It is then that national states are formed, between which trade begins to thrive, and international diplomatic relations are established.

Science is developing at an incredible pace, and printing has perpetuated this historical period for centuries. Geographical discoveries and the emergence of natural science have become a turning point in a person’s awareness of himself. The foundation of all future scientific theories and discoveries is laid.

Man of the Renaissance

Renaissance man is very different from a medieval man. It is characterized by faith in the power and strength of reason, admiration for the inexplicable gift of creativity.

Humanism puts in focus the wisdom of man and her achievements, as the highest good for a rational being. Actually, this leads to a rapid flowering of science.

Humanists consider it their duty to actively disseminate the literature of ancient times, for it is in knowledge that they see true happiness.

In short, a Renaissance man tries to develop and improve the “quality” of an individual by studying the ancient heritage as the only basis.

And the intellect in this transformation takes a key place. Hence the emergence of various anti-clerical ideas, often acting unreasonably hostile to religion and the church.

Literature of the Renaissance

If we talk about the literature of the Renaissance, it begins with the brilliant Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). Writing “Divine Comedy”, he, in fact, revealed the essence of a man of his time.

Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) sings selfless love in his sonnets as the meaning of life. For him, the wealth of man’s inner world is inconceivable without true love. By the way, we already wrote about an interesting fact from the life of Petrarch.

In many ways the literature of the Renaissance was predetermined by the novels of Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), the treatises of the distinguished Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), the poems of Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533) and Torquato Tasso (1544-1595).

These representatives of the Renaissance became on a par with the recognized classics of the Ancient Greek and Roman period of history.

In the Renaissance, literature was conventionally divided into two types: folk poetry and ancient books. It is this connection that has produced such amazing, semi-fantastic and poetic-allegorical works as Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote and Francois Rabelais’s Gargantua and Pantagruel.

It is important to emphasize that precisely then the notion of national literature begins to be clearly seen, in contrast to the Middle Ages, when Latin was the sole lot of all writers.

The drama and theater are becoming extremely popular, and the most famous playwrights are Englishman William Shakespeare (1564-1616, England) and Spaniard Lope de Vega (1562-1635).

Philosophy of the Renaissance

Briefly speaking of the philosophy of the Renaissance is quite difficult. You can only briefly list the most famous of its representatives.

Nikolai Kuzansky is one of the most prominent German thinkers. Kuzansky was a universal scientist and encyclopedist. He defended the ideas of Neoplatonism, considering the meaning of philosophy the combination of opposites in the One.

Leonardo Bruni is an Italian humanist, historian and writer, and also an outstanding scholar of his time. He wrote biographies of Dante and Petrarch. Bruni saw in the boundless creative possibilities of man the meaning of philosophy of the Renaissance.

Famous figures, scientists and philosophers of the Renaissance – Galileo Galilei, Nicolaus Copernicus and Giordano Bruno deserve separate articles.

In short, we can say that Copernicus made the first revolution in the scientific world, becoming the author of the heliocentric system of the world.

Galileo became the founder of experimental physics. He first used the telescope for scientific purposes, making a series of important astronomical discoveries.

Giordano Bruno was recognized by his contemporaries as one of the greatest thinkers of the Renaissance. His philosophy and numerous treatises led to a conflict with the Catholic Church. Bruno is known to many for his scientific and philosophical views was sentenced to death and burned at the stake in Rome.

Michel Montaigne is a French philosopher of the Renaissance and author of the well-known book “Experiences.” He was one of the first to oppose the use of cruelty in pedagogy.

Martin Luther is an outstanding German theologian and reformer. He became the ancestor of the Reformation, which led to the emergence of the largest Christian movement – Protestantism. It was the Reformation that largely predetermined the development of Europe after the Renaissance.

Thomas More is an English philosopher and humanist. Author of the famous book “Utopia”. The irreconcilable critic of Luther and the ideas of the Reformation.

Erasmus of Rotterdam is a prominent thinker, nicknamed “the prince of the humanists”. Differed freedom-loving views. At the end of life, he also polemicized with Luther.

Other representatives of the philosophy of the Renaissance, we only enumerate: Marsilio Ficino and Lorenzo Valla, Janozzo Manetti and Jean Bodin, Tommaso Campanella and Niccolo Machiavelli.

Artists of the Renaissance

Undoubtedly, artists of the Renaissance deserve more attention than a brief mention of them. But we only give the most famous names.

Sandro Botticelli – a bright star in the sky of the art of the Renaissance. The most famous paintings: “The birth of Venus,” Spring “,” Adoration of the Magi “,” Venus and Mars “,” Christmas “.

Piero della Francesca is a famous Italian artist and mathematician. He wrote such famous works as “On the Perspective in Painting” and “The Book of Five Correct Bodies.” Differed in that he perfectly mastered the technique of painting, knowing its scientific theory. Famous paintings: “The Story of the Queen of Sheba”, “Flagellation of Christ” and “The Altar of Montefeltro”.

Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most famous artists and universal scientists not only of the Renaissance, but of all, of all time. He possessed unique abilities and became the inventor of many things that appeared only in the 20th century. The most famous paintings of the genius of Da Vinci: “The Last Supper”, “Mona Lisa”, “Madonna Benoit” and “The Lady with Ermine”.

Rafael Santi – one of the most skillful artists and architects of the Renaissance. For a short life (and he lived only 37 years), Rafael wrote many amazing paintings, the most famous of which are “Sistine Madonna”, “Portrait of a Young Woman” and a fresco “Athenian School”.

Michelangelo Buoanarroti – a brilliant artist, sculptor and architect of the Renaissance. About his work still form legends and anecdotes. In addition to a lot of artwork, he wrote about 300 poems that have survived to this day. The largest works: “Madonna of Doni”, “Creation of Adam”, statues “Moses” and “David”.

Titian Vecellio is an outstanding painter of the Renaissance. Titian was not yet 30 years old, as he was recognized as “the king of painters and painter of kings”. By the way, we already wrote about one very funny and interesting fact from the life of Titian. The largest works: “Venus of Urbin”, “Abduction of Europe”, “Carrying the Cross”, “Crowning with Thorns” and “Madonna Pesaro.”

Now you know what the Renaissance was like. We tried to briefly outline the key areas of the culture, art and science of the Renaissance, and also talked about the most significant representatives of these areas.

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Of course, a professional review of the book indicates (shortly!) which content is comprised by the book. The review has to take into account the evaluation of strong and weak sides of the literary work. The review of a book needs to answer such question, as “Is this book can be considered as one is worth reading?”

Apply the list mentioned below in the form of a guide in order to get “a review of the help” hints.

1. What exactly does the book comprise? (Sum up shortly. When you review fiction, remember about the ending and plot complexities designed to come as a surprise for readers.)
2. Who is presented as a writer and what exactly are their traditional attitudes?
3. What are important points made by an author when being engaged in working on the book?
4. Do you consider the given few ideas as right ones? Are you ready to accept them? Provide the reasons for both variants.

Especially: (a) Does the particular author give reasons for his/her things by means of examples, background information, and logic? (b) Do the ideas of a writer correlate with your gained experience and knowledge?

5. Are the given questions raised for you personally in this specific book, which were not answered by an author?
6. In case you have familiarized yourself with other books, which have the same topic, how can the given book compare? More preferable, how exactly does the thesis for this written book differ from theses of other books?
7. Are there comments you have to add to turn the book’s essence into comprehensible for someone who reads your review?

In case you have answered all the above-mentioned questions, but you still cannot cope with the review assignment properly? In this event, you badly need the best writing help. Reviews may become really difficult to manage.

The given questions can be responded to in different order. At the same time, all questions have to be addressed shortly. Keep in mind that the book’s review has to take notice of the fundamental needs connected with a literary discourse. Here should be an introductory paragraph that consists of either a thesis statement or a premise, the body of the text where you provide a short synopsis and build up your arguments, and, in addition, a short conclusion. When you do not know how to mix all these constituents together, then address to online paper writing service. Reviews written by professionals in the sphere will satisfy you for sure. Despite this fact, it is always important to check whether your paper written by professionals will be of high quality. To do that correctly, first you need to gather all available information about this or that writing company. Only after that, you will have a chance to make a right choice.

You can see more information at https://pro-papers.com/review-paper-writing-service

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The leader of the Reformation movement was Martin Luther (1483-1546). On October 31, 1517 in Wittenberg, this then-unknown monk and doctor of theology, nailed to the church door his 95 theses condemning the abuses of the Catholic Church and, above all, the sale of indulgences – this event is considered the formal beginning of the Reformation. In fact, Luther proposed to return to the moral principles of the original Christianity with its inherent simplicity, sincerity, immersion in faith. A person does not need a church as an institution, she is an extra link between a believer and Christ. He must within himself redeem sin by repentance; for this, priests are not needed. Luther rejected the external Catholic cult: veneration of saints, icons, altars, the sign of the cross, kneeling, viewing them as a kind of some church magic. In his opinion, in contrast to “genuine piety”, the Catholic Church cares not about a person imbued with the will of God, but aspires to God himself to subordinate the will of people. The Pope excommunicated Luther from the church, but many feudal lords, eager to receive the church lands, actively supported his ideas. After the religious war, Lutheranism was accepted by many German cities, which was facilitated by Luther’s translation of the Bible into German. Thus, in Germany, a special Protestant church in the form of Lutheranism emerged from the Catholic Church. The Reformation movement, embracing the countries of Europe, pushed the development of Renaissance culture. Frightened by the victories of the Protestants, the Vatican launched a counter-reformation movement. Specially created order of the Jesuits secret methods and any means fought against free-thinking throughout Europe. In Italy, Spain and France, the fires of the Holy Inquisition were flamed. In these countries, the Catholic Church managed to maintain its dominance.

In the most radical version, the Protestant church won in Switzerland. One of its leaders, John Calvin (1509-1562) advocated strict, even harsh mores in everyday life and church life. Calvinism, which focused on diligence, modesty in everyday life, frugality, was, in fact, the ethics of burgher early capitalist accumulation. Changed attitude to work. The fulfillment of duty within the framework of his secular profession began to be considered the supreme task of man. Through this, he was convinced of his own worth to God and grew in his eyes, no matter how low his estate was. True Christian faith was understood as diligence and special thoroughness in the performance of ordinary mundane work – such is the logic of Protestant ethics. Reformation contributed to the process of the emergence of a man of bourgeois society – a separate individual with freedom of moral choice, independent and responsible in his judgments and actions. In the carriers of Protestant ideas, a new, bourgeois type of personality with a new attitude to the world was expressed.

Thus, humanism and the Reformation are two forms of culture (secular and religious) of the rising early bourgeois society, which oppose the culture of the medieval feudal society that is losing its historical justification.

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Thus, we can distinguish the following main features of the Renaissance culture: a special attitude towards antiquity – the revival of ancient monuments of art and ancient philosophy, the modification of the medieval Christian tradition, anthropocentrism, humanism, and individualism.

The comprehension of a world filled with divine beauty by a man becomes one of the world outlook tasks of the Renaissance. The world attracts a person, because he is inspired by God. And what can help a man better in the knowledge of the world than his own senses. In the era of the Italian revival, there is a keen interest in the visual perception of the world, which determined the flowering of painting and other forms of spatial art. Therefore, it is artists who are the closest to the solution of world outlook problems. The era of the Italian Renaissance has a distinctly artistic character – the famous painters and sculptors Donatello (1386-1466), Botticelli (1445-1510), Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), and Rafael Santi (1483-1520).

But there is another trend in the development of the Renaissance culture – a sense of human tragedy of its existence. Its causes in the complex interaction of the heritage of antiquity and Christianity, which led to a split personality. The blood of people has already been poisoned by the Christian consciousness of the sinfulness of this world and the Christian thirst for redemption. Great artists of the era are obsessed with the idea of creating a different life, a breakthrough into the transcendent world. A revivalist, feeling in himself forces like creators, set tasks that are obviously impossible in the world of art. The reliance of artists on the achievement of the era of antiquity and their aspirations to the higher world, revealed by Christ, do not coincide. This leads to a deep revivalist yearning, to a tragic worldview. Tragedy of the perception of the world was strengthened by the fact that the Renaissance coincided in Italy with a period of brutal civil strife and wars. And the humanists, who were glorified all over the world, were forced to serve tyrants.

But the humanistic culture of the Renaissance was exceptionally elitist. It was accessible only to people educated and remained alien to the broad masses, whose consciousness continued to be held captive by the medieval world of consciousness. Seeds sown by the humanistic culture of the Renaissance, sprouted later, already in the New Times. At the same time, changes in the way of life, caused by the transition from feudal to commodity-money relations, affected the whole of European society. Man’s acquisition of inner freedom led to the destruction of strict ascetic morality of the Middle Ages. The result was a general fall in morals, affecting not only the laity, but also the clergy.

The Catholic Church, with its vast wealth and reach unprecedented power over the countries of Western Europe, was to an end in the XV century. In an extremely sad situation. No other church has dealt with such a dangerous temptation as almost unlimited secular power. Absolute domination in all spheres of life, an absolute monopoly of power, led it to internal degeneration and moral decay.

While preaching poverty and humility, the church became indecently rich, making profit literally on everything. The higher ranks of the Catholic Church lived in unheard-of luxury, indulged in the revelry of a noisy social life, very far from the Christian ideal. Even the pope was by no means a model of virtue. Higher ecclesiastical posts were sold and bought. The monasteries, which were places of pure spiritual repentance, humility and service to God, turned into the den of debauchery and vice. In fact, the Catholic Church, with its center in Rome, returned to the starting point of the opposition of the original Christianity to the completely corrupted and corrupt capital of the Roman Empire of the time of Caligula.

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The birth of a new worldview occurred in the major cities of Italy, which provided international trade between Europe and the Arab East. The Mediterranean roads, trade, the influx of foreigners, extensive cultural contacts, and a high level of well-being created favorable opportunities for the accumulation of knowledge, the development of education and the formation of a new secular elite, which was skeptical of many of the dogmas of Christian ideology, and even more skeptically, to the papal curia itself The central institutions of papal authority), to the higher ecclesiastical hierarchs, whose far from holy conduct was not a secret for the educated layers of Italian society.

Increased interest in knowledge, the growth of cultural level could not but be accompanied by an appeal to the cultural heritage of antiquity, because both the architecture of Italy, and sculpture, and preserved literary works of ancient authors were accessible and attracted attention. However, the self-affirmation of the individual in the Renaissance was not characterized by vulgar materialistic content, but had a spiritual character. The decisive influence here was the Christian tradition. The time in which they lived was revived, made them realize their importance, responsibility for themselves, but they did not cease to be people of the Middle Ages. Without losing faith in God, they only looked at themselves in a new way. The change in the medieval consciousness was superimposed on a keen interest in antiquity, which created a unique and unique culture. Why to antiquity? The fact is that a new attitude of the person, a certain, perhaps naive optimism of thinking, needed a world outlook, a justification, which was what classical antiquity was.

But even in Italy the Renaissance was not limited to the literal revival of antiquity. There was a more profound process connected with the liberation of the individual from all forms of feudal dependence, which made the person consider himself as a self-determining and self-sufficient being. Therefore, one of the structure-forming principles of the Renaissance culture is anthropocentrism. It was within the framework of the culture of the Renaissance that a comprehensive discovery of man took place. At the same time, the ideas of humanism (humanus humanus) were put at the forefront of the new system of values. The foundations of a new worldview were laid by the great Florentine poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), the author of the Divine Comedy, who stated that out of all manifestations of divine wisdom, it is man who is “the greatest miracle.” Another brilliant Florentine Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) in his famous sonnets sang the love of an earthly woman as beautiful, and not as a sinful feeling. Petrarch was the first of the Renaissance figures named by the humanists to sharply criticize the papal curia, calling it the abode of wickedness, the heresy temple and the school of delusions. Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) a contemporary of Petrarch, in his collection of short stories “Decameron” in an even more acute form preaches the human rights to happiness in this life, which he associates with love, with sensual pleasures. Boccaccio affirms that love is above class divisions, that the nobility of a person is determined not by nobility, but by personal valor, that every man is free and obliged to fight for his own happiness.

Such ideas were close to the young bourgeoisie, which became alien to the tragedy of the worldview, the pathos of suffering and the aestheticization of poverty. There was growing respect for a living person who wins by accepting the world as he is. Of course, he remembers that there is God, you need to observe Christian commandments, but in life you should rely, first of all, on yourself. A new illusion was building up-this person sounds proud, it seemed that there was no limit to human capabilities.

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