The Renaissance & the new world

Episode number 26 of Series “The Western tradition”.
During the 15th and 16th Centuries, the Europeans were confronted by the discovery of new societies which challenged their understanding of the world and provoked a revolution in critical thinking. Prof. Eugen Weber asks,”What motivated the great explorers of the Renaissance, and how did their attitudes differ from a medieval mentality?” The New World was perceived as an earthly paradise and its people mythologised as “noble savages”. The importance of religion is explored, and how Christianity provided a rationale for slavery. Using Leonardo Da Vinci as a case study, Weber stresses the significance a new critical and comparative way of thinking, where knowledge was subject to revision on the basis of experience and observation.