Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” a
quote shared with me by Spencer in our class. I’m not sure whether or not
Socrates realized the foundation he himself was creating through his
philosophies to allow human kind to look back on history – life – and examine and
learn from it, but he was doing just that. This idea of looking to the past and
returning to previous sources is what allowed for the blossoming of the
Renaissance period. We always talk about the Renaissance as a time period of
new ideas, new thoughts, new inventions, new art, new literature. But these new
and great thinkers had to look back and acknowledge all of the hundreds and
thousands of years of work that had been done before that to give a foundation
for this change and reformation. Erasmus did this as he wrote his “Discourse on
Free Will.” He referred to the Bible several times when talking about the
nature of man and salvation. He also quoted Ciseraux, demonstrating his “ad
fontes” – returning to sources – in a spiritual, as well as academic sense.
So, we look to the past to gather information. But then what
to we do with it? Do we keep it the same? Do we keep it to ourselves? Or do we
share it? Do we collaborate with it and then expand it and make it better? The
explorers of the High Renaissance period (Columbus, Decartes) recognized that
in order to share information and continue collaborating and learning, they had
to brave the waters of the many oceans to explore new worlds. We learn from
Montaigne in his “Of Cannibals” essay that his travels to Brazil caused him to
broaden his perspective of a cannibalistic people. It also caused him to
re-examine his European way of life.
Through our “Salon” discussion, Jesse Bunton suggested that
no one understood better than the Protestant Reformationists that information
needed to be spread to everyone, especially the common people. Information was
held in the hands of the clergy as they read their Bibles in Latin and then
dictated to the public how religion worked. But when Martin Luther posted his
95 Thesis, in direct opposition to the Catholic Church, he was demanding that
more be done with the information that was available. Johann Gutenberg made
this possible with his invention of the printing press in the 15th
century. Suddenly, Bibles were being printed in a language that the majority
could understand. This continued to spark new ideas as people learned more
through reading and the newfound widespread accessibility of information. They
began to re-examine the ways the Catholic Church was running their lives and
decided to make a change, which evolved into Protestantism.
These ideas spread through new forms of communication, which
we see has also changed over time. In the days of Socrates, the people relied
on oral rhetoric – the spoken word. Through the creation of the printing press,
ideas were spread through the written word. The use of written communication
was beneficial for fast and broader access to ideas and literature, but it
lacks the ability to better express tone and other rhetorical tools that come
through oral communication. But the written forms of communication have
provided the information that new generations are able to study and look back
on.
Upon finishing this unit. I started to think about how in my
own life to apply these principles of “ad fontes.” Do I look back at past
sources? I am here at a university with unlimited access to archives of
information – work that has been created, research that has been done – in my
field. Am I going to just go through the motions of my schooling and let those
opportunities to learn and grow wash over me? Or am I going to dive into the
waters, explore new worlds, past and present, and determine if my life is worth living?
In our Theme group (Movable Type) Madison had considered this point. That going back to the past doesn't really do much until you apply what you have learned. Then, you can either avoid mistakes of the past or replicate the successes. There is a line that a successful student must walk between having their nose in the books and going through the motions. I don't think its bad to cut corners every once in a while in college. Even Dr. Burton has told us not to read the whole text before. But there is a lot to be learned form the past.
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