Excerpt from Descartes

§ 1. One of the most interesting epochs in the world's history is that of the transition from medieval to modern Europe. The breaking up of the old; the violent birth of the new; the sturdy defence of the established order; the confident invasion of strange ideas and novel methods, - all this, shown in great political, religious, scientific, and moral questions, is a spectacle ever absorbing in its interest, and ever instructive to the student of mankind. But according as various observers approach it from various sides, they see various turning-points, which by each are proclaimed the mark of the close of medieval history. To some the rise of the secular spirit in the Italian Renaissance, to others the assertion of the responsibility of individual conscience by the Reformation in Germany, is the dawn of modern history.

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