Philosophy in the Sixteenth Century
During
the reformation period (sixteenth century), philosophy too underwent a great
change. Both secular and religious philosophies were impacted by reformation. They
were no more confined to the church, rational thinking was encouraged.
Philosophy in the Secular world
In
the secular world, Telesio, Bruno, Campanella, and Francis Bacon were some of
the greatest philosophers of that time. They were philosophers of nature, of
the natural universe, terrestrial, and celestial. They broke the authority of
Aristotle and abandoned the moulding power of logic and systematization which
lay in the Aristotelian scholasticism. As a result, however their systems
presented certain confusions and lacked sure foundation in basic principle.
They had their own thinking upon the metaphysics of the universe. Rather than
pure eclecticism, their opinions present certain synthetic originality.[1]
Telesio’s
polemic against Aristotle shows what actually his philosophy is. He attacked
the Aristotelian conception of matter and form as two separables, arguing that
they were strictly in and of each other. According to Telesio, the ethics of
human life consisted in the self-realisation of the man. Since the Orthodox
authoritative Christianity was so close with Aristotle’s philosophy, it hated
the new philosophy which was against to its great philosopher. As a result,
Telesio was troubled by the monks, Campanella was imprisoned many years and
Bruno was burned alive. Campanella and Bruno were the other chief advocates of
the new philosophy of nature. [2]
Campanella
had a passion for the natural truth and he was inspired by Telesio. He loved
truth as well as the church. He saw that the new thoughts of nature conflicts
with the Roman Catholic Aristotelian view of the world and the heaven. But his
conviction was that equally direct revelation of God and man lay in nature and
man’s mission is to read the same. For him, faith on the one side and investigation,
perception and consciousness on the other, are the sources of religion and
philosophical truth. Consciousness is the basic certainty. According to him,
man investigates nature through the consciousness of his experiences. Through
self-consciousness also one passes into consciousness and unshakable conviction
of God.[3]
Similarly,
Bruno and Francis Bacon had their own philosophy about the nature but that was
contradictory to the Roman Catholic faith. And they had to suffer for their
convictions from the hands of the church.
Philosophy in Religious circle
During
the sixteenth century there were many doctrines which contributed for the
reformation. Among those, Lutheranism, Anabaptism, Calvinism, and Arminianism were
well known in those days.
The
term “Reformation” is usually referred to the Lutheran and the term “Reformed”
to the Calvinist, the term “restored” will be more appropriate to Anabaptists.[4]
The
Anabaptists searched the scriptures
in order to recover the pattern of the early church. And they understood that
the early church was composed of heartfelt believers and it was persecuted,
despised and rejected. As a result, Anabaptists believed that the true church
must be always reviled, rejected, and crushed. They tried to practise
monasticism and tried to win heaven through their good deeds. They insisted on adult
baptism, and rejected the infant baptism. According to them Christianity
demands quality of living and that can be achieved only by the heartfelt
believers.[5]
The
idea of Calvinism originated with John
Calvin, a Frenchman. It originated in Geneva. It rejected the use of external
aids to religion, so it rejected images, symbols and music. Calvinism combined
some features from Lutheranism, Zwinglianism and Anabaptism. Calvin’s view of
man was gloomy and devastating than the Luther and Anabaptists. Calvin viewed
man as vitiated in intellect and corrupted in morals as a result of Adam’s
fall. The most significant thing was, Calvinism projected the final coming of
the Lord into an indefinite future.[6]
Zwinglianism
shared a large commonality with Lutheranism, yet it had its own unique
standards. Zwingli’s conviction was much more of a humanist and he was a
disciple of Erasmus. Nevertheless all these philosophies or doctrines set the
sovereignty of God as primary and insisted on justification by faith. The great
text for Luther was “Thy sins are forgiven” but for Calvin it was “If God be
for us who can be against us.”[7]
Bibliography
Osborn Taylor, Henry. Philosophy
and Science in the Sixteenth Century. New York: Collier Books, 1962, 110.
Bainton, Roland H. The Reformation
of the Sixteenth Century. London: Hodder and Stroughton Limited, 95.
[1] Henry
Osborn Taylor, Philosophy and Science in
the Sixteenth Century, (New York: Collier Books, 1962), 110.
[4] Roland H.
Bainton, The Reformation of the Sixteenth
Century, (London: Hodder and Stroughton Limited), 95.
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