During the medieval period philosophy was often viewed as “the handmaiden of faith.” By making use of reason and argument, philosophy could be used to help establish beliefs. When conflict arises between the claims of faith and the claims of reason, that conflict gets “resolved” in favor of faith. But the credo of the two periods of the Renaissance is different. The arts and philosophy in the humanistic period of the Renaissance (from 1453 to 1600) were human-centered, emphasizing the place of humans in the universe. Philosophy during the natural science period (from 1600 to 1690) was cosmos-centered.