Humanism is an extremely interesting brand of values and far too few people know what’s it about.
Its roots can be traced all the way back to ancient Greece, in the 6th century BCE. In fact, Greek pantheists like Thales of Miletus (”know thyself”) made the path for humanists later. Early freethinkers like him rejected their culture’s gods and preferred a naturalistic point of view. Pericles was such a person, who advanced science, thought, and democracy. Athens was an especially prominent place for these values. In its golden age, gods were only a subtle part of life, and participating in public debates was as much a civic duty as voting or working.
Fast forward a bit and humanism comes into play during the medieval time period in Islamic culture. This brand was subtle, and outward doubt was discouraged, though freethought was acceptable.
Renaissance humanism is most notably the era which we borrow aspects of modern humanism from. Values of science, debate, thought, and philosophy replaced those of the Roman church. 14th-15th century Florence was where this all started. The Italian Renaissance itself was a time of learning and opinions.
Not surprisingly, humanism of this time actually meant fascination with the classical (ancient Greece and Rome) world, which is why there was such an emphasis on learning. Contrasting with the Dark Ages, the image of man was all of a sudden transformed into one of high position, instead of all of humanity being a manifestation of sin and damnation. This time period, unlike the Dark Ages, was all about this life.
Though we can still make connections to its origins, modern humanism is more of a literal interpretation of the word. Today, humanism is about civil rights, and the power of humanity. Current humanism outlines a broad set of philosophies, but most notably, secular humanism. Like the humanism of Florence and the classical world, questioning and secular values play a big role. But with or without secular attached, humanism is still all about human reason, ethics, logic, observation, and thought.
It’s interesting to look at humanism in this historical light because secularism can be seen before the supposed birth of Jesus, and ultimately much before the spread of Christianity. While your particular bit of humanism (if any) may not be exactly like that of the Renaissance or classical age, you can at least appreciate the historical significance of philosophies older than their counterparts.
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What a tantalising piece – I hope you continue with its history. There is one particular phrase that encapsulates a furthering of humanity, to understand and relish in its mystery and knowledge. It comes from “the Italian Renaissance philospher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, writing a century before Shakespeare. In his oration ‘On the Dignity of Man’ of 1486, Pico claims to identify ‘the reason why man is rightly said and thought to be a great marvel and the animal really worthy of wonder.’ ” (quoted from Richard Norman’s ‘On Humanism’ published by Routledge).
Thus we have someone who already identifies humans as animals, before 1859 (’On the Origin of Species’ first publication of course). Thus we have truly the most provocative words: ‘worthy of wonder’. This life, our lives and this world in which we have found ourselves. Your identification of the extent of humanism is a valuable addition to our need to promote it and eliminate its misconceptions. It shows that the old argument “my religion is old so it must be true’ fals here, too (see Guy P. Harrison’s 5o Reasons People Give for Believing in a God). Humanism too is ancient! hoorah!
It is good to get a sense of humanism’s history, which is what the notes above provide.
More such observations would be welcome. At the moment, Humanism seems to be this goody-goody Idea, which most people won’t disagree with. But in this form, it is apt to leave most of us cold.
Some heat, some zing is needed for Humanism to take off in the market place [of ideas]…