The Humanism Time Machine
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/04/07
Andrew Copson, the Chief Executive of Humanists UK and the President of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, talked with me about humanism in terms of its meanings and origin.
Copson said, “In English since the mid-nineteenth century, when it first appeared as a word, ‘humanism’ has had two main meanings. One refers to the cultural milieu of Renaissance Europe, which we now more often call ‘Renaissance humanism’. The second refers to a non-religious approach to questions of value, meaning, and truth, which emphasizes the role of humanity in these areas of life rather than the role of any deity.”
The second form of humanism inspired the organizations for humanist thinkers and activists. When I asked about the mobilization of those outside of a faith-based framework, and inquired if there are any similarities in the frameworks, Copson stated that there were not that many differences, as people have beliefs that motivate action in the world.
“Certainly, humanist organisations and leaders don’t have the god-backed power to instruct their fellow believers to do this or that, but then that doesn’t work out terribly well for religious leaders either,” Copson explained. “I think that leadership in a humanist context is about being clear in public forums about our values and beliefs, and then living out and modelling them in practice too. If people agree with your reasoning and warm to your manner, they will consider doing as you suggest.”
When I talked with Copson further about the founder of humanistic values, whether an entire society or an individual thinker, he pointed to several incidents bubbling up in the historical record including people such as Mengzi in China about 2,300 years ago. In addition to Mengzi or Mencius, he noted the Charvaka school in India, which had a similar counterpart in another part of the Greco-Roman world between 2,500 and 1,800 years ago.
“None of the societies in which these views were expressed could be described as humanist—they were diverse societies in which there were many schools of thought,” Copson explained, “but they were certainly more humanistic than, for example, the Christian states of medieval Europe. It was in part the rediscovery and reception of these humanistic thinkers that kickstarted the humanistic trends that have transformed the world and made it modern.”
Humanism has been an emergent property in world cultures. The principles of the philosophy have arisen at different times. As the different cultures and times have come forward, the definitions have changed, but the core of humanism has been consistent. It is in this that the humanist philosophy appears to be something universal to human beings. But the question remains as to why it is stayed so small in adherents.
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