In essence, the Renaissance was a victim of its own success. They had accomplished their task of recovering the surviving knowledge of the ancient world, and vast amounts of new texts had been made available. But at the same time, the overwhelming amount of new material caused their broader intellectual project to collapse under its own weight. Of course, the scholastics had weathered this kind of disappointment earlier, and it might be that Renaissance thinkers would have as well, had this been the only problem they were facing. As it is, however, it was only the first of the challenges
...more
