The Beginnings of Modernity

Flashcards about the Renaissance, Reformation, and the Age of Exploration.

Social Science

An enterprise of the modern world that seeks to develop systematic, secular knowledge about reality, validated empirically.

Modernity

A term and concept used to describe significant historical breaks and discontinuity with the past.

What brought the Middle Ages to an end?

The Age of Exploration, the Renaissance, and the Reformation.

On Finitude

The belief that progress depends on the knowability and explorability of the world.

Renaissance

Rebirth, a renewed interest in and rediscovery of the classics.

Humanism

A revival of the classic vision of the moral greatness of the individual.

Civic Humanism

Concerned with wisdom, virtue, and morality within the context of the political community.

Renaissance artists

Preoccupied with nature, beauty, and reason.

Prominent Renaissance Artists

Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, Donatello

Secularization

The declining scope of religious authority.

Protestant Reformation

Questioned and challenged the supremacy of the Roman Catholic Church.

Sola Fide

Faith alone can save us.

Martin Luther's 95 Theses

Exposed the indulgences of the church, challenged the infallibility of the Pope, and argued for the priesthood of all believers.

Colonialism

The drive to acquire colonies for resource extraction and market dominance.

What aspect of life declined in scope due to secularization?

The shift from religious to secular control in various aspects of life and thought.

What is social science part and parcel of?

The construction of our modern world.

What did technological advance depend on?

A confidence in its finitude in certain key dimensions.

What were Renaissance artists preoccupied with?

Nature, beauty, and reason.

What does secularization mean?

The attempt to understand and live in areas in the terms which they alone offer.

What did the Protestant Reformation reject?

The Pope's authority and Church doctrine itself.

What does sola fide mean?

Faith alone can save us

What had a huge impact on how people viewed the world?

The historical conditions of modernity.

What events brought the middle ages to an end?

The age of exploration, the renaissance, reformation

What was there renewed interest in after the renaissance?

A renewed interest in and rediscovery of the classics.

What vision did Renaissance artists revive?

Moral greatness of the individual

What did the protestant reformation challenge?

The supremacy of the Roman Catholic Church

Social science is an enterprise that seeks to develop what type of knowledge?

Systematic, secular knowledge about reality.

What does modernitiy serve as?

A device for positing significant historical breaks.

What are distinctive sociological processes?

Urbanization, industrialization, globalization.

What did the practical realization of progress depend on?

The knowability and explorability of the world.

What was there a renewed interest in after the renaissance?

Classics

What was the human concept during the renaissance?

Rational moral and beautiful

Renaissance writers would write histories of what?

City-states

What did Martin Luther challenge?

The infallibility of the Pope

What has secularization meant?

That areas of thought and life should be able to be understood in the terms that they alone offer.

What is at the root of the social sciences?

The attempt to develop systematic, secular knowledge about reality.

What did the practical realization of progress depend on?

Unlimited progress, technological advance.

Renaissance writers were concerned with what?

Wisdom, virtue, and morality.

What did Renaissance writers write in the context of?

The political community

What is implied by secularization?

The withdrawal of areas of thought and life from religious control.

What is it to call an era modern?

To characterize the epoch in terms of its discontinuity with the past.

What events brought the Middle Ages to an end?

The Renaissance, Reformation, and Age of Exploration.

What does social science seek to develop?

Systematic, secular knowledge about reality validated empirically.

What is modernity a device for?

Positing significant historical breaks.

What did the practical realization of progress in human affairs depend on?

The knowability and explorability of the world, and confidence in its finitude.

What were Renaissance artists preoccupied with?

Nature, beauty, and reason.

What did secularization mean the withdrawal of?

Areas of thought and life from religious control.

What did the Protestant Reformation reject?

The Pope's authority and Church doctrine.

What is the meaning of "sola fide"?

Faith alone can save us.

What were some of the specific issues addressed in Martin Luther's 95 Theses?

Indulgences of the church, the infallibility of the Pope, and the need for a priestly class.