What is humanism? That’s the question David Nobbs poses in the 1983 comic novel Second from Last in the Sack Race (Next to last in the sack race), at the inaugural meeting of the Thurmarsh Elementary School Bisexual Humanist Society (“bisexual” because it includes boys and girls). The question causes chaos.
A girl answers that it is the Renaissance attempt to escape the Middle Ages. It refers to the literary and cultural renaissance carried out by energetic intellectuals with an indomitable spirit in Italian cities such as Florence in the 14th and 15th centuries. But that is not correct, replies another member of the society. Humanism means “being kind, good to animals and things and participating in civic events, and visiting the elderly and things like that.”
A third member responds, scathing, that this is confusing humanist with humanitarian. A quarter complain that they are wasting their time. The humanitarian is outraged: “Are you saying that bandaging injured animals and taking care of the elderly and things is a waste of time?”
The mordant now introduces his own definition. “It is a philosophy that rejects the supernatural, that sees man as a natural object and affirms the essential dignity of the human being; its worth and its ability to be realized through the use of reason and the scientific method.” This definition is generally well received until someone objects that there are people who believe in God and call themselves humanists. The meeting ends with everyone more confused than they were at the beginning.
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But the Thurmarsh students had nothing to worry about: ‘all of them’ were on the right track. All of his descriptions—and even others—contribute to a fuller, richer picture of what humanism means, and of what humanists have done, studied, and believed over the centuries.
Thus, as the student who spoke of a non-supernatural vision of life knew, many modern humanists are people who prefer to live without religious beliefs and make their moral choices based on empathy, reason, and a certain sense of responsibility toward others. living beings. The writer Kurt Vonnegut summed up his view of his world: “I am a humanist,” he said, “which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without expecting rewards or punishments after my death.”
However, Thurmarsh’s other student was also right in saying that some humanists had religious beliefs. They could still be considered humanistic, in that they focused predominantly on the lives and experiences of people here on Earth, rather than on institutions or doctrines, or on theology or the afterlife.
Other meanings have nothing to do with religious issues. A humanist philosopher, for example, is one who puts the living person at the center of all things, rather than deconstructing that person into systems of words, signs, or abstract principles. A humanist architect designs buildings on a human scale, so that they do not overwhelm or frustrate those who live in them. In the same way there can be medicine, politics or humanistic education; we have humanism in literature, photography and cinema. In all of these cases, the individual is placed at the top of the list of concerns, not subordinated to any larger concept or ideal. This is closer to what the “humanitarian” student meant.
But what about those scholars of 14th and 15th century Italy, those of whom the first student of society spoke? These were humanists of a different kind: they translated and edited books, taught students, exchanged letters with intellectual friends, discussed interpretations, advanced intellectual life, and generally spoke and wrote a lot. In short, they were specialists in the humanities (studia humanitatis, human studies). From this Latin term they were known in Italian as umanisti, so they are also humanists; in American English they are still called that. Many have shared the ethical interests of other types of humanists, believing that learning and teaching the humanities allows for a more virtuous and civilized life. Humanities professors still believe it, in a modernized form. By introducing students to literary and cultural experiences and the tools of critical analysis, they want to help them become more sensitive to other people’s perspectives; a more nuanced understanding of how political and historical events unfold and a more judicious and reflective approach to life in general. They hope to cultivate ‘humanitas’, which in Latin means “human being”, but with the connotations of refinement, culture, eloquence, generosity and good education.
Religious humanists, non-religious humanists, philosophical humanists, practical humanists, and humanities professors: what, if anything, do all these meanings have in common? The answer is right there in the name: they all focus on the human dimension of life.
What is that dimension? It may be difficult to define, but it ranges between the physical realm of matter and any purely spiritual or divine realm that may be believed to exist. Humans are made of matter, of course, like everything around us. At the other end of the spectrum, we can (some believe) connect in some way to the numinous realm. However, at the same time we occupy a field of reality that is neither completely physical nor completely spiritual. It is here that we practice culture, thought, morality, ritual, and art: activities that are (mostly, though not entirely) distinctive to our species. This is where we invest much of our time and energy: we spend time talking, telling stories, creating images or models, making ethical judgments and fighting to do what is right, negotiating social agreements, worshiping in temples, churches or sacred groves, passing on memories. , teaching, playing music, telling jokes and clowning around to entertain others, trying to reason things out, and generally being the kind of beings we are. This is the realm that humanists of all kinds place at the center of their efforts.
Thus, while scientists study the physical world and theologians study the divine, the “humanists of the humanities” study the human world of art, history and culture. Non-religious humanists make their moral choices based on human well-being, not divine doctrine. Religious humanists also focus on human well-being, but within the context of a faith. Philosophical and other humanists constantly compare their ideas with the experience of real people.
The human-centered approach is revealed in a quote from about 2,500 years ago by the Greek philosopher Protagoras: “Man is the measure of all things.” He may seem arrogant, but there is no need to interpret this as meaning that the entire universe must conform to our ideas, much less that we have the right to dominate other forms of life. We can interpret it as that, as humans, we experience our reality in a human way. We know (and care about) human things; They are important to us, so let’s take them seriously.
Certainly, under this definition almost everything we do can seem somewhat humanistic. Other proposed definitions have been even more generalizing. Here is the novelist EM Forster (a profoundly “human” writer, a member of humanist organizations) responding to the question of what the term means to him: “We would do humanism a better service by reciting a list of the things one has enjoyed or encountered.” interesting people, the people who have helped you and the people you have loved and tried to help. The list would not be dramatic, it would lack the sonority of a creed and the solemnity of a law, but it could be recited with confidence, because it would be human gratitude and hope that would be speaking.
This is charming, but it also comes very close to giving up all definition. Still, Forster’s refusal to pronounce dogmatically or abstractly on humanism is, in itself, a typically humanist attitude. For him it’s a purely personal matter… and that’s the point. Humanism is often personal, since it is about people.
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