During this Renaissance, or rebirth, of classical learning, societies produced art, architecture, and philosophy that simultaneously sought to celebrate human achievement and inspire it further. Humanism, the era’s guiding principle, aimed to foster individuals capable of full participation in civic life through clear thought and expression. These virtues, humanism posited, were cultivated through the humanities: art, writing, rhetoric, history, politics, and philosophy. Accordingly, Renaissance men who mastered these fields — Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael — came to be revered.
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