Humanism

Humanism is a literary movement that began in Italy during the fourteenth century. It was a distinct movement because it broke from the medieval tradition of having a pious religious motivation for creating art or works of literature. Humanist writers were concerned with worldly or secular subjects rather than strictly religious themes. Such an emphasis on secularism was the result of a more materialistic view of the world. Humanist writers glorified the individual and believed that man was the measure of all things and had unlimited potential. Humanist writers secularized the view of history by writing from a nonreligious viewpoint. They supported studying grammar, poetry, and history, as well as mathematics, astronomy, and music. They sought to understand human nature through a study of classical writers such as Plato and Aristotle as they believed that the classical writers could teach important ideas about life, love, and beauty.