Difference between revisions of "Humanism" - New World Encyclopedia

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Active in the early 1920s, Ferdinand Canning Scott Schiller considered his work to be tied to the humanist movement. Schiller himself was influenced by the pragmatism of [[William James]]. In 1929 Charles Francis Potter founded the First Humanist Society of New York whose advisory board included [[Julian Huxley]], [[John Dewey]], [[Albert Einstein]], and [[Thomas Mann]]. Potter was a minister from the Unitarian tradition and in 1930 he and his wife, Clara Cook Potter, published ''Humanism: A New Religion.'' Throughout the 1930s Potter was a well-known advocate of women’s rights, access to birth control, civil divorce laws, and an end to capital punishment.  
 
Active in the early 1920s, Ferdinand Canning Scott Schiller considered his work to be tied to the humanist movement. Schiller himself was influenced by the pragmatism of [[William James]]. In 1929 Charles Francis Potter founded the First Humanist Society of New York whose advisory board included [[Julian Huxley]], [[John Dewey]], [[Albert Einstein]], and [[Thomas Mann]]. Potter was a minister from the Unitarian tradition and in 1930 he and his wife, Clara Cook Potter, published ''Humanism: A New Religion.'' Throughout the 1930s Potter was a well-known advocate of women’s rights, access to birth control, civil divorce laws, and an end to capital punishment.  
  
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Raymond B. Bragg, the associate editor of ''The New Humanist,'' sought to consolidate the input of L. M. Birkhead, Charles Francis Potter, and several members of the Western Unitarian Conference. Bragg asked Roy Wood Sellars to draft a document based on this information which resulted in the publication of the ''Humanist Manifesto'' in 1933. The ''Manifesto'' and Potter's book, both of which envision humanism as a religion, became the cornerstones of modern humanist organizations. They defined religion in secular terms and refused traditional [[Theism|theistic]] perspectives such as the existence of [[God]] and His [[Creationism|Creation]].  
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Raymond B. Bragg, the associate editor of ''The New Humanist,'' sought to consolidate the input of L. M. Birkhead, Charles Francis Potter, and several members of the Western Unitarian Conference. Bragg asked Roy Wood Sellars to draft a document based on this information which resulted in the publication of the ''Humanist Manifesto'' in 1933. It referred to humanism as a religion, but denied all supernaturalism and went so far as to affirm that: "Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created."<ref>[http://www.americanhumanist.org/about/manifesto1.html "Humanist Manifesto I."] Retrieved January 21, 2008.</ref> So, it was hardly religious humansim; it was rather [[Secular Humanism|secular humanism]]. The ''Manifesto'' and Potter's book became the cornerstones of modern organizations of secular humanism. They defined religion in secular terms and refused traditional [[Theism|theistic]] perspectives such as the existence of [[God]] and his act of [[Creationism|creation]].  
  
 
In 1941 the American Humanist Association was organized. Noted members of The AHA include [[Isaac Asimov]], who was the president before his death, and writer Kurt Vonnegut, who also was president before his death.
 
In 1941 the American Humanist Association was organized. Noted members of The AHA include [[Isaac Asimov]], who was the president before his death, and writer Kurt Vonnegut, who also was president before his death.
  
 
== Secular and Religious Humanism ==
 
== Secular and Religious Humanism ==
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'''Secular humanism''' rejects [[theism|theistic]] [[religion|religious]] belief, and the existence of [[God]] or other supernatural being, on the grounds that supernatural beliefs cannot be supported rationally. Secular humanists generally believe that successful ethical, political, and social organization can be accomplished through the use of reason or other faculties of man. Many theorists of modern humanist organizations such as American Humanist Association hold this perspective.  
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[[Secular Humanism|Secular humanism]] rejects [[theism|theistic]] [[religion|religious]] belief, and the existence of [[God]] or other supernatural being, on the grounds that supernatural beliefs cannot be supported rationally. Secular humanists generally believe that successful ethical, political, and social organization can be accomplished through the use of reason or other faculties of man. Many theorists of modern humanist organizations such as American Humanist Association hold this perspective.
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Religious humanism embraces some form of theism, deism, or supernaturalism, without necessarily being allied with organized religion. The existence of God or the divine, and the relationship between God and human beings is seen as an essential aspect of human character, and each individual is endowed with unique value through this relationship. Humanism within organized religion can refer to the appreciation of human qualities as an expression of God, or to a movement to acknowledge common humanity and to serve the needs of the human community. Religious thinkers such as [[Erasmus]], [[Blaise Pascal]], and [[Jacques Maritain]] hold this orientation.
  
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'''Religious humanism''' embraces some form of theism, deism, or supernaturalism, without necessarily being allied with organized religion. The existence of God or the divine, and the relationship between God and human beings is seen as an essential aspect of human character, and each individual is endowed with unique value through this relationship. Humanism within organized religion can refer to the appreciation of human qualities as an expression of God, or to a movement to acknowledge common humanity and to serve the needs of the human community. Religious thinkers such as [[Erasmus]], [Blaise Pascal]], and [[Jacques Maritain]] hold this orientation.
 
  
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== Humanism in Education==
 
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Humanism, as a current in [[education]], appeared during the seventeenth century. It held that the studies that develop human intellect are those that make humans "most truly human." The practical basis for this was “faculty psychology,” the belief that the mind consists of distinct intellectual faculties, such as the analytical, the mathematical, and the linguistic. Strengthening one faculty was believed to benefit other faculties. A late nineteenth-century educational humanist was U.S. Commissioner of Education W.T. Harris (1835 -1909, founder of the ''Journal of Speculative Philosophy''), whose "''Five Windows of the Soul''" ([[mathematics]], [[geography]], [[history]], [[grammar]], and [[literature]]/[[art]]) were believed especially appropriate for "development of the faculties." Harris, an egalitarian who worked to bring education to all children regardless of [[gender]] or [[economics|economic]] status, believed that education in these subjects provided a “civilizing insight” that was necessary in order for democracy to flourish.
 
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==

Revision as of 18:50, 21 January 2008

Humanism is an attitude of thought which gives primary importance to human beings. Religious humanism views the relationship between God and human beings as an essential aspect of human existence and endows each individual with unique value through this relationship. Humanism within organized religion can refer to the appreciation of human qualities as an expression of God, or to a movement to acknowledge common humanity and to serve the needs of the human community. Secular humanism is characterized by confidence in human reason and the scientific method as a means of discovering truth and organizing society; an emphasis on earthly life; and optimism that life can be made better for all humans. During the last two centuries, various elements of humanism have been manifested in philosophical trends such as existentialism, utilitarianism, pragmatism and Marxism.

Renaissance humanism (the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries) developed from the rediscovery by European scholars of classical Latin and Greek texts. It emphasized human dignity, beauty, and potential, and affected every aspect of culture in Europe, including philosophy, music, and the arts. The humanist emphasis on the value and importance of the individual influenced the Protestant Reformation, and brought about social and political change in Europe.

Humanism in Renaissance and Enlightenment

Renaissance humanism

Renaissance humanism (often designated simply as humanism) was a European intellectual and cultural movement which began in Florence, Italy in the last decades of the fourteenth century, rose to prominence in the fifteenth century, and spread throughout the rest of Europe in the sixteenth century. Of course, the term "humanism" itself was absent in the Renaissance because it was coined much later, i.e., in 1808, by a German educator, F.J. Niethammer, to describe a program of study distinct from science and engineering; but in the fifteenth century the term "umanista," or "humnaist," was current, meaning a student of human affairs or human nature. The movement developed from the rediscovery by European scholars of many Greek and Roman texts. Its focus was on human dignity and potential and the place of mankind in nature; it valued reason and the evidence of the senses in understanding truth. The humanist emphasis upon art and the senses marked a great change from the contemplation on the biblical values of humility, introspection, and meekness that had dominated European thought in the previous centuries. Beauty was held to represent a deep inner virtue and value, and an essential element in the path towards God.

Renaissance humanism was a reaction to the Christian scholasticism which had dominated the universities of Italy, and later Oxford and Paris, and whose methodology was derived from Thomas Aquinas. Renaissance humanists followed a cycle of studies, the studia humanitatis (studies of humanity), consisting of grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, and moral philosophy, based on classical Roman and Greek texts. Many humanists held positions as teachers of literature and grammar or as government bureaucrats. Humanism affected every aspect of culture in Europe, including music and the arts. It profoundly influenced philosophy by emphasizing rhetoric and a more literary presentation and by introducing Latin translations of Greek classical texts which revived many of the concepts of ancient Greek philosophy.

The humanist emphasis on the value and importance of the individual was not necessarily a total rejection of religion. According to historians such as Nicholas Terpstra, the Renaissance was very much charaterized with activities of lay religious cofraternities with a more internalized kind of religiosity, and it influenced the Protestant Reformation, which rejected the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church and declared that every individual could stand directly before God.[1] Humanist values also brought about social and political change by acknowledging the value and dignity of every individual regardless of social and economic status. Renaissance humanism also inspired the study of biblical sources and newer, more accurate translations of biblical texts.

Humanist scholars from this period include the Dutch theologian Erasmus, the English author Thomas More, the French writer Francois Rabelais, the Italian poet Francesco Petrarch, and the Italian scholar Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.

Enlightenment humanism

The term, "Enlightenment humanism," is not as well known as "Renaissance humanism." The reason is that the relationship of humanism to the Enlightenment has not been as much clarified by historians than that between humanism and the Renaissance. But, there actually existed humanism in the Enlightenment as well, and quite a few historians have related humanism to the Enlightenment.[2] Enlightenment humanism is characterized by such key words as autonomy, reason, and progress, and it is usually distinguished from Renaissance humanism because of its more secular nature. While Renaissance humanism was still somewhat religious, developing an internal type of religiosity, which influenced the Protestant Reformation, Enlightenment humanism marked a radical departure from religion.

The Enlightenment was a reaction against the religious dogmatism of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The religious dogmatism of that time in Europe had been developed in three domains: 1) Protestant scholasticism by Lutheran and Calvinist divines, 2) "Jesuit scholasticism" (sometimes called the "second scholasticism") by the Counter-Reformation, and 3) the theory of the divine right of kings in the Church of England. It had fueled the bloody Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) and the English Civil War (1642-1651). The Enlightenment rejected this religious dogmatism. The intellectual leaders of the Enlightenment regarded themselves as a courageous elite who would lead the world into progress from a long period of doubtful tradition and ecclesiastical tyranny. They reduced religion to those essentials which could only be "rationally" defended, i.e., certain basic moral principles and a few universally held beliefs about God. Taken to one logical extreme, the Enlightenment even resulted in atheism. Aside from these universal principles and beliefs, religions in their particularity were largely banished from the public square.

Humanism in Philosophy after the Enlightenment

After the Enlightenment, its humanism continued and was developed especially in philosophy. Humanism has come to encompass a series of interrelated concepts about the nature, definition, capabilities, values, and education of human persons. In philosophy it refers to perspectives in anthropology, history, epistemology, aesthetics, ontology, ethics, and politics, which are based on the human being as a point of reference. Humanism refers to any perspective which is committed to the centrality and interests of human beings. It also refers to a belief that reason and autonomy are the basic aspects of human existence, and that the foundation for ethics and society is autonomy and moral equality. During the last two centuries, various elements of humanism have been manifested in philosophical views including existentialism, utilitarianism, pragmatism, personalism, and Marxism.

Modern Humanist Movements

One of the earliest forerunners of contemporary chartered humanist organizations was the Humanistic Religious Association formed in 1853 in London. This early group was democratically organized, with male and female members participating in the election of the leadership and promoted knowledge of the sciences, philosophy, and the arts.

Active in the early 1920s, Ferdinand Canning Scott Schiller considered his work to be tied to the humanist movement. Schiller himself was influenced by the pragmatism of William James. In 1929 Charles Francis Potter founded the First Humanist Society of New York whose advisory board included Julian Huxley, John Dewey, Albert Einstein, and Thomas Mann. Potter was a minister from the Unitarian tradition and in 1930 he and his wife, Clara Cook Potter, published Humanism: A New Religion. Throughout the 1930s Potter was a well-known advocate of women’s rights, access to birth control, civil divorce laws, and an end to capital punishment.

Raymond B. Bragg, the associate editor of The New Humanist, sought to consolidate the input of L. M. Birkhead, Charles Francis Potter, and several members of the Western Unitarian Conference. Bragg asked Roy Wood Sellars to draft a document based on this information which resulted in the publication of the Humanist Manifesto in 1933. It referred to humanism as a religion, but denied all supernaturalism and went so far as to affirm that: "Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created."[3] So, it was hardly religious humansim; it was rather secular humanism. The Manifesto and Potter's book became the cornerstones of modern organizations of secular humanism. They defined religion in secular terms and refused traditional theistic perspectives such as the existence of God and his act of creation.

In 1941 the American Humanist Association was organized. Noted members of The AHA include Isaac Asimov, who was the president before his death, and writer Kurt Vonnegut, who also was president before his death.

Secular and Religious Humanism

Secular humanism rejects theistic religious belief, and the existence of God or other supernatural being, on the grounds that supernatural beliefs cannot be supported rationally. Secular humanists generally believe that successful ethical, political, and social organization can be accomplished through the use of reason or other faculties of man. Many theorists of modern humanist organizations such as American Humanist Association hold this perspective.

Religious humanism embraces some form of theism, deism, or supernaturalism, without necessarily being allied with organized religion. The existence of God or the divine, and the relationship between God and human beings is seen as an essential aspect of human character, and each individual is endowed with unique value through this relationship. Humanism within organized religion can refer to the appreciation of human qualities as an expression of God, or to a movement to acknowledge common humanity and to serve the needs of the human community. Religious thinkers such as Erasmus, Blaise Pascal, and Jacques Maritain hold this orientation.


Notes

  1. ↑ Nicholas Terpstra, Lay Confraternities and Civic Religion in Renaissance Bologna (Cambridge University Press, 1995).
  2. ↑ For example, Aram Vartanian, Science and Humanism in the French Enlightenment (Charlottesville, VA: Rookwood Press, 1999); Howard B. Radest, The Devil and Secular Humanism: The Children of the Enlightenment (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1990); Lynne H. Schultz, "Enlightenment Precursors to Secular Humanism"; and Peter Derkx, "The meaning of the word 'humanism'."
  3. ↑ "Humanist Manifesto I." Retrieved January 21, 2008.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Petrosyan, M. Humanism: Its Philosophical, Ethical, and Sociological Aspects. Progress Publishers, 1972.
  • Lamont, Corliss. The Philosophy of Humanism. Humanist Press, 1997. ISBN 978-0931779077
  • Ehrenfeld, David W. The Arrogance of Humanism. New York, Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0195028904
  • Said, Edward W. Humanism and Democratic Criticism. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. ISBN 978-1403947109

External links

General

Religious humanism

Secular humanism

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