While feudalism and the class system of the European middle ages seemed to guarantee that families would remain in their social strata for eternity, the philosophers of the Renaissance challenged that status quo. They suggested that people could—and should—question authority. For instance, in Erasmus of Rotterdam’s The Education of a Christian Prince, he urged people to, “judge all things on their own merits as ‘good’ or ‘bad.’” Like many of his time who considered themselves humanists, Erasmus believed the study of the liberal arts could help people dramatically change their lives. This Renaissance belief was seconded by Della Mirandola, who in his Oration on the Dignity of Man suggested that people could rise above their status through studies and education-- an idea that must have seemed radical to people who previously believed they had been born into their fate. Likewise, Laura Cereta, in her Letter to Bibulus Sempronius …show more content…
Filipo Brunelleschi challenged the accepted ideas in architecture when he went against traditional thought to construct the dome above the Florence Cathedral. His dome had no internal or external bracing, an idea thought to be impossible prior to this construction. Brunelleschi’s ideas incorporated Renaissance respect of past knowledge with the use of ancient mathematical concepts of geometry, which was in keeping with the humanistic return to ancient texts. The mathematical laws discovered by ancient Greek and Roman mathematicians also allowed Brunelleschi to accurately represent three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface. Brunelleschi understood the importance of building on the knowledge of the past to create the future. Brunelleschi’s architecture influenced other architects for generations to come, not only changing the landscape of European cities, but of other cities across the