Ok, so perhaps bemoan is a bit of a strong word here, but the function of Aristotelian and Platonic philosophies in the Renaissance world view have proven to be necessary, though perhaps not solely sufficient. There has been some disputation in the class as to which Neo interpretation of the philosophical ponderings is the king of the hill of the Renaissance. Some have suggested that the big player was the neo-platonist mindset held sway, since the huge pursuit for the ideal of forms and the rise of art in their capability to raise people up to the world of forms (or at least closer thereto). Others contend that the humanism and appreciating for the natural world in peoples like Saint Francis of Assisi and Galileo suggest the supreme reign of the Neo-Aristotelian mindset. I care to contend however that there did not exist any kind of monopoly in popularity for the Renaissance thinkers. These peoples full of accepted, nay expected, anachronisms took no problem with a combination of ancient philosophies into what they saw best. As the "School of Athens" can attest to visually, the combination of alternative time lines and peoples evinces the mindset to be an odd sort hybrid that takes the best of several worlds and combines them with great deliberation. Therefore there exists inherently to the Renaissance worldview a sort of interacting vibrancy played out between the Dualism of Plato and the Monism of Aristotle. Though the "neo" tacked on to the front of these schools of thought necessarily connote a few differences in interpretation and application, the contrast exists nonetheless.
Where then do we see the Platonic mindset play itself out? The shifting value on artists of many types is typical of the Neo-platonist approach to thought, in that painters and sculptors alike were seen on a lower level close to stone masons are manual laborers during the middle ages, their socio-economic position shifted because their highly valued skills were seen as reflections of Plato's world of forms; instead of depicting reflections of reflections, their art could somehow enhance reality and point our pour and weary souls back towards the world of forms. In this same sense, the HUGE emphasis on mathematical calculations that Plato values is mimicked in kind in the Renaissance music and later art. The extreme appreciation for balance in proportion for Renaissance musicians is a direct throwback to Plato. The art we witnessed just yesterday in developing perspective and mathematically calculating the vanishing point so that all things in the painting are in proportional balance. These thoughts are highly Platonic but by no means do they weigh out the Aristotelian approach to the world either.
As Aristotle's most famous portrait depicts, his prime locale for defining importance, function, and reality altogether is here, in this world of becoming. (Notice his hand extended out towards the earth) This is manifested heavily throughout the Renaissance worldview. As Aristotle sees all matter is comprised of matter and form (2 of his "four causes"). This is what Renaissance artists are depicting reality of matter in their most optimal form. In attempting to capture the world of becoming and unite it with the world of forms (i.e. the church) nature became increasingly more depicted in the church. The church now becomes the idealized form of what nature should be like, filled with men that are no longer floating angelic beings but creatures that are gravity laden and real, and yet perfected, the best combination of matter and the form after which we should all strive. Also entering with Aristotle's mindset is a greater appreciation for the use of observation of this world, an important aspect and perspective imitated in much of Giotto's work as well as the "School of Athens." The importance of a systematized understanding of the world and organizing set order patterns to which everything relates in the Aristotelian mindset is even reflected in their grandiose expectation for the virtuous life lived for secular reasons, only possible through the humanist mindset.
This can hopefully evince that neither Plato or Aristotle reigned supreme in the Renaissance mindset but served as guides and grand gifters of the ways of days past; things to be conglomerated in anachronism and deliberation, more for the purpose of appreciating and incorporating all the greats of the past instead of just a singular entity. Clearly philosophies of Plato and Aristotle have worked together through the hands of Renaissance thinkers to form a world where secularism, historical self consciousness, humanism, and individualism are possible.
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