Renaissance and Enlightenment Period

My first Journalism lecture focused on the changes in Philosophy particularly the Renaissance period in the Western World. Having never study philosophy myself I found it interesting to see just how important a part the study of how we think and feel played in changing so many things throughout history from science and technology to religion and art.
The pre Christian Greek era is generally considered to be the beginning of discovery. They are considered to have invented science, mathematics and philosophy, whilst their advancement in art and literature was also astounding. The way that the leading intellectuals of this period were also able to combine many of these studies also surprised me with one particular case being the philosopher Thales. Bertrand Russell states in his book 'The History of Western Philosophy' that the philosophy of this period 'begins' with Thales who even managed to predict an eclipse - showing how linked various subjects became during this period of advancement in civilisation.
However, after the period of the Greeks there was something of a dark age, where the rapid progression appeared to halt. This suggests that humanity is not necessarily continuously progressing, particularly when there is no ability to record information and history down, this is an idea that I will explain further with the introduction of the printing press.
After the dark ages an age of discovery was rediscovered in Italy around the 15th Century. The ancient Greek mentality had managed to be preserved through the dark ages mainly by the Catholic church. Iconic, conceptual art now often depicted man and this was an apparent reference back to Greek philosophers such as Protagoras who claimed that 'man is the measure of all things'. The art of this time supports this with very human characters portrayed in religious situations.
However, there were also new, non-Christian ideas born at this time. As a journalist the most important of these was the printing press in the 16th Century. This enabled theories and thoughts to be recorded as historical fact and meant that the ideas, and the those who thought them up, could become immortal. This led to a rapid increase in technological advancement and justifies why Einstein later referred to it as the greatest invention of all.