Cultural achievements of ancient Greece and Rome

11.7 09: 551At the beginning of the 4th century, with the gradual formation and development of the capitalist mode of production, people's demand for science and art became increasingly urgent and intense. Europe began to enter the Renaissance. Renaissance is the second peak in the history of European culture after the prosperity of ancient Greek and Roman culture. This period lasted more than 300 years from14th century to the first half of17th century. Renaissance took the restoration of Greek and Roman classical literature and scholarship as its face, which completely shook the ruling foundation of European Christian churches and led to the emergence and development of modern natural science.

I. Revival of ancient Greek and Roman cultures

From the fifth century to the fifteenth century, it was called the "dark Middle Ages". This is an era in which the Christian church dominated, the classical culture of ancient Greece and Rome declined, and Europe entered an era in which theology ruled everything. The medieval Christian theological worldview believed that people were born guilty. According to the theory of "original sin", Adam and Eve, the ancestors of mankind, lived in heaven and lived a beautiful and happy life. However, they were punished by God for stealing the forbidden fruit, and were expelled from heaven and fell into the eternal world. Therefore, everyone is guilty in this life. People can only turn to the church, repent and pray for God's grace, save themselves from sin, and then go to heaven after death. God rules everything and human beings are worthless. Man is the slave and lamb of God and can only obey God. At that time, science was regarded as an insult to God, all knowledge was "owned" by priests, and all wisdom was "condensed" in the Bible. In this era, as Engels pointed out: "Science is only the obedient handmaid of the church, and it must never go beyond the boundaries stipulated by religious beliefs." The church used its privilege to suppress all "heresy". According to statistics, about 5 million people were sentenced to death in medieval European countries, many of whom were natural scientists. Therefore, the development of science in this period was extremely slow, and in some areas, compared with ancient science, it even regressed.

"In Italy, capitalist production developed earliest, and serfdom relationship collapsed earliest." (Marx's Das Kapital, Volume I) So the Renaissance first started in Italy. Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance, has been the center of the bourgeois new culture movement since the 4th century. During Cosimo's reign of medici family (1434- 1464) and later Rosso's reign (1469- 1492), Florence experienced unprecedented economic and cultural prosperity and became a beacon of "dark" medieval Europe. At that time, the new culture movement in Italy and Florence, under the banner of "reviving" the ancient Greek and Roman culture, directly pointed the finger at the theocracy of the church. The bourgeoisie, which has just stepped onto the historical stage, does not have a mature and complete ideological system, but it must have a powerful ideological weapon to counter the Christian theological forces in the Middle Ages. They believe that this weapon is the secular and rational ancient Greek and Roman culture. Although these classical cultures were rejected by Christian churches, denounced as heresies and imprisoned for thousands of years in the Middle Ages, the emerging bourgeois thinkers made them glow again.

In the cultural circle of Florence, Italy, "humanism" has also become a weapon to challenge theology. Humanists moved out of the famous saying of the ancient Greek philosopher protagoras: "Man is the measure of all things", advocating respect for nature and human rights and opposing asceticism; Advocate scientific culture and oppose superstition. They pull people back from the world of God to the real world of people. They praise people, life and nature, and advocate science and rationality. Under the guidance of humanism, social science and natural science have developed, resulting in modern realistic literature and art, modern natural science based on experimental methods, new materialist philosophy, political science, history and pedagogy, and a large number of versatile and knowledgeable giants. These giants held high the banner of humanism and launched a fierce attack on feudal absolutism and Christian theological rule, thus writing a new chapter in the history of human culture.

Second, the liberation of natural science.

Renaissance is an era of active thinking and conducive to bold innovation. The geographical discoveries of Columbus, Magellan and Da Gama; The artistic innovations of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael were all completed in this era. After the dark night in the Middle Ages, science suddenly rose again with unexpected power and developed at a magical speed. Among them, Copernicus, Bruno, Galileo, Kepler and Newton are the representatives and pioneers of astronomical discoveries.

In the Copernican era, Ptolemy's geocentric theory was dominant in Europe. In the middle ages, the church deified the geocentric theory and used it as the basis to prove the existence of God. Copernicus believed that Ptolemy regarded illusion as reality because there was no difference between phenomenon and essence. Because we can't feel the rotation of the earth, we only feel that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west every day, just like when people are driving on a big ship, they often don't feel the ship moving, only things on the shore are retreating. Therefore, Copernicus put forward Heliocentrism and published his magnum opus On the Operation of Celestial Bodies. He bravely put forward that the sun is the center of the universe and the earth is not the center of the universe. It is just an ordinary planet orbiting the sun. Because Copernicus was limited by the times and class, he could not completely get rid of the influence of the old traditional ideas. He followed the ancient Greek idealist school's view that the circle is the most perfect shape, and that the orbit of the planet around the sun is circular and moves at a constant speed. But it turns out that the orbits of planets around the sun are elliptical and unequal. Bruno and Kepler developed and perfected these imperfections of Copernicus' theory. The birth of Copernicus' "Heliocentrism" liberated astronomy from the bondage of religious theology, and natural science was reborn, which is of epoch-making significance in the history of modern scientific development.

Third, the challenge of natural science to theology.

For thousands of years, theological ignorance has been rampant. They raised the power of God, belittled mankind, stifled scientific discovery and made science a slave to theology. The proposal of Copernicus theory is an open challenge to theology and directly points the finger at the Roman church. Copernicus' theory overthrew the basic theory of astronomy at that time and distinguished science from mysterious witchcraft. It violated Christian doctrine and was opposed by the church. The Pope condemned Copernicus' theory as "wrong and totally inconsistent with the heresy of the Bible", banned his works, and brutally persecuted scholars who publicized Copernicus' theory.

Bruno, a natural scientist who shouted for the truth, ignored the ban of the church and boldly exposed religious ignorance. He organically combined the advanced natural science and philosophy at that time and established his own materialistic natural philosophy world outlook. He insisted on supplementing and developing Copernicus' theory. Copernicus reduced the earth from the central celestial body in the universe to a planet in the solar system, thus shaking the foundation of Catholic theological rule. Bruno reduced the sun from the central celestial body of the universe to an ordinary star, which advanced people's scientific understanding of the universe. This is a more thorough denial of the "geocentric theory" advocated by the church and the resulting "anthropocentrism". Bruno's opinion made hundreds of inquisitions declare him a heresy, and the Roman inquisition tried every means to kill him. To this end, they used despicable means to lure him back to China and imprisoned him in the dungeons of Venice and Rome for eight years, in an attempt to force him to bow his head and repent, give up his views, confess to the church, condemn himself and kneel down. However, during his eight years in prison, Bruno was tortured, but he never wavered in his belief, never gave up his theory, and never admitted his "mistakes". 1600 February 17, Bruno was burned to death at the stake in the Rome Flower Square. Bruno enthusiastically propagated materialism and atheism everywhere, spread Copernicus' theory to the whole of Europe, and made him the staunchest and bravest fighter against the church and scholasticism.

At the same time, Galileo, a scientist, waged an indomitable struggle against the Holy See in order to defend the truth. He observed the sun, moon and stars in the sky with a self-made telescope, uncovered many secrets in celestial bodies, provided favorable evidence for Copernicus' theory, and dealt a fatal blow to the "God's world" that tried to anesthetize people's spirit and will. Pope Paul V (1605- 162 1) seriously felt that although Bruno was physically eliminated by the Holy See, he did not eliminate Copernicus' theory ideologically. Now Galileo is supporting Copernicus' theory with new discoveries, and the Vatican has been hit again. So, 16 16 On March 5, the Pope reiterated that Copernicus' theory was "heresy" and his works were banned. No one is allowed to speak, publicize or read, otherwise they will be tried by the Inquisition. However, the Vatican's warning did not make Galileo give up his astronomical research. After long-term observation and research on the movement of celestial bodies, he was more convinced of the correctness of Copernicus' theory. 1632, Galileo's dialogue about Ptolemy and Copernicus, after long-term review, was finally published. After the book was published, it was greatly hated by some priests. They appealed to the Inquisition on the pretext that the ban of 16 16 was still valid. Soon, the book was banned from sale and Galileo was summoned to the Roman inquisition for trial. At this time, Galileo was nearly 70 years old and weak. Although exhausted by torture, he still argued and insisted on his own point of view, refusing to bow to the Vatican. In the end, Galileo was sentenced to prison and put under house arrest in Florence for seven years.

Kepler, a famous German astronomer, also fought against the church to defend the truth. During his college study, Kepler gradually became an admirer of Copernicus' theory. His belief in theology wavered and he often had heated arguments with his classmates. He clearly defended Copernicus' theory of the universe. In his later years, he still fought against idealism unremittingly. The Catholic Church hated Kepler's behavior, surrounded his residence and threatened to execute him. Later, Kepler was once an imperial mathematician and survived. But this did not shake his faith. He still insisted on scientific research and made great progress in Copernicus' Heliocentrism.

Fourth, the victory of natural science.

Once human reason gets rid of the shackles of theological worldview, it will have great power. The great discoveries made by astronomers such as Copernicus and Kepler in astronomy are quite different from religious prejudice, which is a complete denial of the theological system. It is also the discovery of these giants that has promoted the development of materialistic world outlook. The power of truth is irresistible, and human understanding will never stop because of the fool of religious thoughts. More than 200 years later, the Pope had to admit that Heliocentrism was right and rehabilitate a group of scientists who died unjustly, such as Bruno and Galileo. This is a victory of truth, a victory of science, and a victory of giants in the Renaissance.