IT IS WE WHO ARE THE ANCIENTS

Late seventeenth-century Quarrel between the Ancients and the Moderns (Swift, The Battle of the Books)
Erosion of Tradition's authority in matters of knowledge and eventually taste--revision of values and doctrines from legacy of Middle Ages.
Indirectly, Renaissance created a set of rational and critical arguments for breaking away from not just one but all forms of intellectual authority. [23]
Philosophic and scientific discussion of 16th and 17th centuries led to liberation of reason from
tyranny of medieval Scholasticism and
Renaissance idolatry of classical antiquity
Montaigne, Francis Bacon, Descartes - blame blind veneration of antiquity for prevailing sterility of thought and general lack of adequate methods int he sciences.
Word "modern" had acquired negative connotation sin general usage - shakespeare Alls' Well That Ends Well (II,3,2) [24]
Moderns still dwarfs in comparison with ancient giants
Francis Bacon, new simile: paradox involving inexperience of boyhood vs wisdom of old age. We, the moderns, are the real ancients (we, the young are the ancients, because the world we live in is older. [25]

THE IDEA OF MODERNITY