These individuals promoted the belief that it was in people's best interest to concentrate on putting across thinking that reflected positively on the world and that moral thinking played an essential role in changing the way that the social order functioned. Humanist writers wanted people to learn to enjoy life's pleasures without focusing on material values. Even with the fact that Castiglione partly agree to Pico by stating that reason and knowledge were essential factors in this process, the former actually seems to focus on a more profit-motivated attitude while the latter is apparently interested in having people acknowledge the need for more moral values.

Castiglione, Machiavelli, and Pico all had different perspectives concerning the attitudes that the Renaissance man needed to employ in order to experience positive results as he was trying to discover his personal identity. In contrast to both of them, Machiavelli did not hesitate to emphasize the fact that his understanding of a perfect future would be one in which a leader would be extensively familiarized with information needed for him to exercise control over his subjects with little to no problems.

Machiavelli, however, felt that it would have been absurd for people to think like this and devised "The Prince" with the purpose to influence Lorenzo de Medici to accept that ruthlessness and an authoritarian attitude are very important factors distinguishing a leader who is likely to fail from one who is probable to experience success. A conversation with Machiavelli would surely be pointless, taking into account his strong determination and the fact that he prefers to see life as something that people should exploit to the fullest with no regard to the suffering that such behavior provokes.

B. 1. Jackob Burkhardt considered that the Renaissance period needed to be taken as a distinct period rather than being indentified chronologically. One of the main factors influencing him to take on this attitude was the significant difference between this period...

According to Burkhardt, individuals in the Middle Ages had a limited understanding of their personal identity, but rapidly came to experience a self-discovery process as the Renaissance period started. Italy in particular was a location that encouraged such behaviors, and, from Burkhardt's point-of-view, this change would have been impossible in any other location from around the world.
Peter Burke was inclined to believe that some people were impressed to an exaggerate degree as a result of learning information concerning the Renaissance and were then inclined to gain a wrong understanding of the period. His theories directly contradict Burkhardt's by claiming that one could still observe thinking characteristic to the Middle Ages in Renaissance individuals. Burke considered that individuals like Burkhardt failed to see the bigger picture as a consequence of being impressed with some of the most notable individuals who emerged as artists and philosophers during the Renaissance.

Federico Chabod's text is focused on presenting Machiavelli's thinking as seen both from the perspective of Renaissance individuals and from the perspective of the modern man. While many are inclined to criticize Machiavelli as a result of the aggressive values he promoted and while his texts are controversial, Cabod emphasizes that it is important for individuals to look at matters from a different point-of-view. He believes that Machiavelli provided the perfect strategies required for people during the Renaissance period in order to experience success.

Charles G. Nauert emphasized that individuals in Northern Europe perceived the Renaissance as a current that was actually in accordance with their interests. It could be used to reinforce the power of the Church as a pure institution and to encourage individuals in the upper classes to support philosophical thinking.

Bibliography:

Sherman, Dennis, "Western Civilizations: Sources, Images, and Interpretations, from the Renaissance to the Present,"