Description
Originally published in 1967, this book discusses some key writers of the Renaissance: Machiavelli, Castiglione, Bacon and Hobbes and compares their work by relating it that of others in England and elsewhere. Chapters on Bacon contain references to Galileo and Descartes; the chapter on Castiglione also touches on Montaigne. The book also contrasts various currents of thought in the Renaissance with their medieval counterparts or forerunners. The volume isolates the great themes, or revolutionary shifts in as they manifest themselves in the work of important writers and thinkers.
Table of Contents
1. Renaissance and Humanism: The New Education 2. Machiavelli: The New Ethics and Politics 3. Castiglione’s Courtier: The Self as a Work of Art 4. Bacon: The New Philosophy 5. Hobbes: The Scientific Secularization of the World 6. The Idea of Progress: Science and Poetry
