Characteristics of humanism

THE CLASSISM: Contact with the classics was resumed not out of nostalgia but out of a sense of familiarity and intellectual closeness. Both Francesco Petrarca and Coluccio Salutati and Nicholas Machiavelli claimed to feel close to Ciseron just by reading his letters

ANALYTICAL READING: An analytical reading was promoted that was capable of finding a critical attitude, necessary for any reader to fully understand the ideas of the classics.

REALISM: A rejection of traditional assumptions was established to seek, instead, an objective analysis of the perceived and real experience. A realistic view of history promoted a full understanding of the present. There was also a realistic approach to moral criticism, especially in the works of Erasmus of Rotterdam, Thomas More, François Rabelais, and Michel de Montaigne.

CRITICAL SCRUTINY. Independence in relation to the secular world was encouraged, in particular with respect to inherited intellectual programs and their preconceptions

THE EMERGENCY OF HUMAN DIGNITY AND THE INDIVIDUAL: These ideas were linked to the sense of personal autonomy promoted by Petrarch. Although individualism was observed with a critical and concerned eye (for example, in the works of Machiavelli), the idea of a self-sufficient human dignity, capable of reaching intellectual enlightenment on its own, was promoted.

THE ACTIVE VIRTUE: The idea of an active virtue spread that, combined with a philosophical understanding and a powerful rhetoric, could change the way of living in cities. The active virtue of seeking the best could even reconcile opposing ideas, as well as rival or antagonistic thoughts.