A Darker View of the Renaissance
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A Darker View of the Renaissance
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Re: A Darker View of the Renaissance
#2> Fletcher’s more substantive aim of exhibiting the “terror” lying behind the “beauty” of the Italian Renaissance is in my view less successful. First of all, although awestruck tourists might marvel at the beauty of Italy’s art and architecture without much sense of the blood and suffering that accompanied it (unless, of course, they watched Showtime’s series The Borgias, in which case they would have a sensationalized view), no scholar of the period would be surprised. In this regard, Fletcher is jousting with something of a strawman, or at least a largely mid-19th-century gossamer version of the Renaissance.
Straw man indeed. As a layperson, I didn’t imagine Renaissance Europe to be an abrupt transition from medieval to 21st century living standards or political stability. Of course there were atrocities and quality of life was dramatically poorer and more brutish than it is today. What would be remarkable to my lay mind is some interpretation of that brutishness as a development or consequence of enlightenment developments (as opposed to an extension of medieval conditions); however, I doubt such a case can credibly be made.
Re: A Darker View of the Renaissance
#3Yeah what a pity the dark ages came to and end. /s
Re: A Darker View of the Renaissance
#4> Fletcher’s more substantive aim of exhibiting the “terror” lying behind the “beauty” of the Italian Renaissance is in my view less successful. First of all, although awestruck tourists might marvel at the beauty of Italy’s art and architecture without much sense of the blood and suffering that accompanied it (unless, of course, they watched Showtime’s series The Borgias, in which case they would have a sensationali…
I think that is the point even if it's overdone. Many people do think the renaissance and enlightenment were smooth upward transitions when in reality they were periods of profound political and social turmoil.
While I do think the enlightenment was mostly a step forward, it wasn't all light any more than the dark ages were all dark.
This is something we should keep in mind as we enter the real information age whose transformations and upheavals we have barely started to feel. We haven't seen anything yet.
Re: A Darker View of the Renaissance
#5I've been kind of wondering if we will start to see an increase in anti-enlightenment arguments given the issues we face with no clear way out. Given climate change for example, was the industrial revolution a mistake? If it was an inevitable consequence of the enlightenment era, then was that a mistake? Too early to tell, but if we end up destroying ourselves I guess the answer would have to be "yes", but it's a hard pill to swallow.
Re: A Darker View of the Renaissance
#6I've been kind of wondering if we will start to see an increase in anti-enlightenment arguments given the issues we face with no clear way out. Given climate change for example, was the industrial revolution a mistake? If it was an inevitable consequence of the enlightenment era, then was that a mistake? Too early to tell, but if we end up destroying ourselves I guess the answer would have to be "yes", but it's a har…
I'll take climate change for modern medicine and technology. I think any anti-enlightment thinkers are really need to understand what life was like before that.
Re: A Darker View of the Renaissance
#7I've been kind of wondering if we will start to see an increase in anti-enlightenment arguments given the issues we face with no clear way out. Given climate change for example, was the industrial revolution a mistake? If it was an inevitable consequence of the enlightenment era, then was that a mistake? Too early to tell, but if we end up destroying ourselves I guess the answer would have to be "yes", but it's a har…
That's been happening for a while, but mostly as a techno-utopian reskin of last century's racist and fascist ideologies[0].
Re: A Darker View of the Renaissance
#8I've been kind of wondering if we will start to see an increase in anti-enlightenment arguments given the issues we face with no clear way out. Given climate change for example, was the industrial revolution a mistake? If it was an inevitable consequence of the enlightenment era, then was that a mistake? Too early to tell, but if we end up destroying ourselves I guess the answer would have to be "yes", but it's a har…
Given the 1C increase in global average temps, should we go back to subsistence farming and 1/10th of the population? I wonder if you went back in time and asked your ancestors that question. I believe, after you explained to them how you spend most of your day browsing with a magic rectangle, sit in cush air conditioned environments, have access to full motion and interactive media and entertainment, can order nearly anything you like delivered to your door within 48 hours, can travel across continents in mere hours without risking death of dysentery or getting your wagon train raided by bandits, etc. they would ask you what the catch is. 1C hotter? No really...what's the catch?
Re: A Darker View of the Renaissance
#9There's a line I ran across from the movie The Third Man where the character Harry Lime says:
> In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed—but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.
Re: A Darker View of the Renaissance
#10I've been kind of wondering if we will start to see an increase in anti-enlightenment arguments given the issues we face with no clear way out. Given climate change for example, was the industrial revolution a mistake? If it was an inevitable consequence of the enlightenment era, then was that a mistake? Too early to tell, but if we end up destroying ourselves I guess the answer would have to be "yes", but it's a har…
Given the 1C increase in global average temps, should we go back to subsistence farming and 1/10th of the population? I wonder if you went back in time and asked your ancestors that question. I believe, after you explained to them how you spend most of your day browsing with a magic rectangle, sit in cush air conditioned environments, have access to full motion and interactive media and entertainment, can order nearl…
But the catch is not well put, it’s not going to be just 1C hotter which in my oppinion is off, but the erosion of the coastlines, the near total melting of polar glaciers round, massive rise in sea levels, mass extinctions of many species, chaos and war amongst the remaining people for the diminishing resources, etcetera. All these for technology and comfort at the hands of humans with enormous costs for everything else. And the potential extinction of our own species in a much shorter/accelerated timespan.