Every time period in history is significant for one reason or another. History can teach people a lot about their world and what they should and shouldn't do, if it is closely studied. The Italian Renaissance was one time in history with a very significant influence on the modern world in multiple ways. How and why is the Italian Renaissance influential on the modern world? There are many examples as to how the Italian Renaissance can be seen today in society. There are three main categories in which the largest effect of the Italian Renaissance can be seen, art, education, and science. 

In the world of arts, the feud between the classical world view and the Christian world view had the most effect on the changing of the arts during the Italian Renaissance. Humanism was the chief disagreement between the two ideals. Humanism is the idea that the ancient Greeks and Romans literature and ways should be studied and learned. The classical view was putting the emphasis on the present and working to better oneself in the present world and not focusing so much on the afterlife. The classical world view was one of enjoyment and pleasures, whereas the Christian world view was one of self-restraint and of having a pure mind. Due to the opposite views on how the world should function there was a clash between these two groups, which can be seen in the artwork of that time. Classical art was commissioned usually by families and individuals to have and enjoy as a personal pleasure. Christian art was commissioned by the church and at times the leaders to portray what they believed to be the proper way a person should live their life. Due to this purpose the artwork was publically displayed for everyone to see and learn from. Today, the modern world is still somewhat split in its views on this topic. In churches a person can see Christian artwork which has a moral and reason behind it to teach the viewer how to be. In public places, there is more classical artwork, which is purely for enjoyment and not so much to teach a lesson.

Learning always has and most likely always will be a hot topic for every culture. In order to profit and grow a person must be properly educated. The Italian renaissance brought specific focus on learning and education. During this time period, scholars and philosophers began to look back on ancient Rome and Greece for guidance in how and what to learn. Ancient philosophers such as, Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates had many ideas and views on the world that were studied during the Renaissance. By learning what ancient Philosophers' studied and believed the people during the renaissance grew intelligent in literacy and mathematics and science. These three were the main focus of the time in education, but this doesn't mean that other areas weren't studied. Looking back to the past for guidance was how the Renaissance ideas came to be and teaches the importance that history can have. The modern world has learned much by history. Changes in the Renaissance in education is what lead to more and new architecture being designed and built and new opinions to be formed. In the education system today, math, science and literature are still major points of focus, as they were during the renaissance. This became possible because of what occurred during the Italian Renaissance. Translation of the ancient books and literacy studies happened during this time period. During the Middle Ages Latin had become almost extinct and the study of literature and math and science from the previous years had slowly come to a halt, until the discovery and translation of the ancient studies, which drastically changed the education system. The modern education system is very similar to the one developed during the Italian Renaissance. 

The new ways of education allowed for better understanding of subjects which pathed the pathway for new inventions in the science department. One invention during the Italian renaissance was printing. By printing, papers were able to be written and widely read and studied much easier than before. This can be seen in the world today, everything we have are copies the original, leading to books being much easier to obtain than earlier times. Along with the invention of printing, the Italian Renaissance brought about an innovation of engineering. Prior to the revolution there were many engineering problems which seemed to have no solution to them. After the rediscovery of prior knowledge and studying, new designs of buildings were able to rise out. Buildings began to resemble ancient Greek and Roman structures more and individual tasks were able to be accomplished in building. One example of this would be the dome at the top of the Florence cathedral which was placed there during the Italian Renaissance. 

Interest in the Italian Renaissance is a topic which has been reoccurring in history. Not only is the Italian Renaissance important and interesting to art historians, but there are so many other areas which were affected by this movement. Science, literature and even some in the area of government were effected and is why the Italian Renaissance is influential today. Science gained knowledge in the areas of astronomy, and engineering. Literature gained in the areas of classical study and government gained by the political writings of philosophers which were rediscovered during the Renaissance. If there had not been an Italian Renaissance, then the world would be a much different place today. People learned the importance of looking back on history to learn and influence the future in a positive way. The Italian Renaissance taught people to think in their own way, and learn how to actually learn and become educated. If the renaissance had not occurred then the world most likely would have developed slowly and possibly in a less educated way than it did. The most important and potent idea that was developed during the Italian Renaissance was the idea of how influential the past can be in determining the future. People learned to use past discoveries and knowledge to better themselves and their society. 

 There were three sources used while writing this paper. The first source's central idea was focused on why specifically the Renaissance is important and why people today should care about the Italian Renaissance. This website has three main ideas on which if focuses, the importance of history, why it is crucial to continuously improve grow and lastly how the past present and future are all intertwined and rely on one another. Within these three topics there are focuses on the engineering victories which were possible because of the rediscovery of ancient literature and scholarly papers. 

The second source is crucial because it has so many points on which it focuses on for the Italian Renaissance. In general this website talks about how effects of the Renaissance can be seen in the modern world in the areas of science, religion, politics, and artwork. There are multiple sections which each go into great depth about the many ways the Renaissance was influential. 

The third and final resource that was used in the writing of this research paper focused on Humanism. Humanism was the key reason of the start of the Italian Renaissance because it caused uproar for how a society should run and focus. The passage speaks about the rivalry between classicism and Christian world views. 

The research question that guided and influenced this paper was the question of how and why the Italian Renaissance was so influential on the modern world. This is arguable because there are many different ways that the world was affected and many ideas gained during the Italian Renaissance. Some people would argue that the Italian Renaissance was not very influential on the modern world. Instead of believing that the discoveries and gains during the Renaissance are crucial for today, they would believe that overtime the world would have still gained the knowledge and made inventions. This argument doesn't quite work because the classicism and humanism are the two main causes of the Italian Renaissance and are seen still in today. Without the classical versus Christian world views of the Italian Renaissance, there wouldn't have been a drastic difference in art produced and the separation of church and state might not have come to be. Along with separation of church and state many ideas and ways of the modern world come directly from the Renaissance period between 1300 and 1600. 

