A leading figure in the revolt from the old modes of thought is Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519). Because he saw how most scholars accepted as authoritative all that they read, he distrusted the men who took their learning only from books and professed their knowledge so dogmatically. He describes them as puffed up and pompous, strutting about, and adorned only by the labors of others whom they merely repeated. These were only the reciters and trumpeters of other people’s learning.
