humanism

humanism An intellectual movement in which humans are regarded as the centre of the Universe. There is no systematic theory of humanism, but any world-view claiming that people alone supply the true measure of value, may be described as humanist. The relations between humanism and religious thought are complex, but humanism, by virtue of its belief in human perfectibility, contradicts the doctrine of original sin. In this way humanism also has connections with individualism, the notion that the goal for man includes the fulfilment of each person by the cultivation of his or her own individual nature, and with a belief in the possibility of social progress.

Historically, humanism was fully articulated for the first time in the 15th-century RENAISSANCE. Humanists were originally Christian scholars who studied and taught the humanities (grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry, and moral philosophy) by rediscovering classical Latin texts, and later also Greek and Hebrew texts. They came to reject medieval SCHOLASTICISM, and made classical antiquity the basis of western Europe's educational system and cultural outlook. They had no coherent philosophy, but shared an enthusiasm for the dignity of human values in place of religious dogma or abstract reasoning.

The invention of printing enabled the movement's ideas to spread from its birthplace in Italy to most of western Europe. Thomas MORE, ERASMUS, and John Colet all contributed to the humanist tradition. Its spirit of sceptical enquiry prepared the way for both the REFORMATION and some aspects of the COUNTER-REFORMATION.

MARX may be described as a humanist, and in this century humanism has been given expression, in both secular and religious forms, in the philosophy of existentialism.