The Renaissance was, as much as anything, a revolt from the logic of the Middle Ages. We speak of the Renaissance as the birth of ...rationalism; it was in many ways the birth of irrationalism. It is true that the medieval Schoolmen, who had produced the finest logic that the world has ever seen, had in later years produced more logic than the world can ever be expected to stand. They had loaded and lumbered up the world with libraries of mere logic; and some effort was bound to be made to free it from such endless chains of deduction. Therefore, there was in the Renaissance a wild touch of revolt, not against religion but against reason.... When all is said, there is something a little sinister in the number of mad people in Shakespeare. We say that he uses his fools to brighten the dark background of tragedy; I think he sometimes uses them to darken it.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
When women reach the age of maturity, Mother Nature sometimes overworks their frustration to the point of irrationalism. Like the ...middle-aged man...who finds himself looking longingly at a girl in her early twenties.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Copernicanism and other essential ingredients of modern science survived only because reason was frequently overruled in their pas...t.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »