"Renaissance" literally means "Rebirth"; it marks a transition from the Medieval period to the Modern era. The Renaissance develops first in Italy and then all over Europe. It was an age of new discoveries, both geographical (exploration of the New World) and intellectual.

The five issues of the Renaissance are:

• Although Renaissance thinkers often tried to associate themselves with classical antiquity and to dissociate themselves from the Middle Ages, important continuities with their recent past, such as belief in the Great Chain of Being, were still much in evidence.

• During this period, certain significant political changes were taking place.

• Some of the noblest ideals of the period were best expressed by the movement known as Humanism.

• Connected to Humanist ideals, was the literary doctrine of "imitation," important for its ideas about how literary works should be created.

• What later probably became an even more far-reaching influence, both on literary creation and on modern life in general, was the religious movement known as the Reformation.

The Renaissance was influenced by the classical imitation of Greek and Romans.
During the Renaissance people were afraid of caos and instability and all that explains the importance of the pilastry of the Great Chain of Being.
The Great Chain of Being was a hierarchical chain.
At the bottom there were inanimate objects such as metals, stones and the four elements. Higher up were various members of the vegetative class like trees and flowers. Then came animals, then humans and then angels. At the very top there was God.

People tried to find a lesson in the classical culture of Greek.

Humanism is the revival of learning and represented a shift from "contemplative life" to "active life".

A feature of the Renaissance was its strong Protestant basis, influenced by the Reformation under the reign of Henry VIII, who broke with Rome and declared the king was the head of the English Church. England fought to free itself from the Italian influence, which was identified with Rome and the Pope.

In science Copernicus set the basis of modern astronomy. He asserted a new model the one of the solar system having the sunat the centre of the universe with the earth and the other planets moving in a combination of circular movements around it.

People need order against chaos because people were afraid of instability.