Giambattista della Porta

In a time when ideology and convictions were shaped by the church, a new ideology was on the horizon that would begin the revolutionary transformation of the western world into what we know as the renaissance period. This new way of thought was brought about due to certain doctrines of the Catholic church that was viewed as uncanonical and dogmatic. The idealistic movement of Renaissance humanism’s spread throughout first Florence and then western Europe was greatly due to men with common…

Throughout the course of Cultural Perspectives, many texts and authors who have contributed to the Great Conversation have been discussed. Ultimately, each author is attempting to find his or her summum bonum or “highest good.” Although each author has a different definition of summum bonum, the majority agrees on the method required to attain the highest good: balance. Whether that balance be implicitly or explicitly accredited for the summum bonum differs for each author. Lao Tzu’s thoughts…

is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god!”(page 50, lines 319-321), Hamlet’s amazement with man coincides perfectly with Pico della Mirandola’s, and other Humanist thinkers, ideal that man is an equal to God. Man is no longer considered the scum of the Earth, man is now praised and compared to angels and gods. Hamlet is not the only play in which Shakespeare reflects upon…

The Classical School of Criminology is based on the assumption that individuals choose to commit crimes after weighing the consequences of their actions. Classical criminologists explain how individuals have free will. Such individuals can choose legal or illegal means to get what they want, their fear of punishment may deter them from committing crime. In addition, society can control behavior by making the pain of punishment greater than the pleasure of the criminal gains. The classical school…