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Humanism

Nietzsches Philosophy

14 Characteristics of Humanism

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Humanism is a philosophical tradition based around a belief in human agency, rational thought, naturalism and altruistic morality. This is commonly used as an organizing principle for societies and other systems such as education. The following are common characteristics of humanism.

Agency

The prioritization of the collective and moral agency of humans based on the belief that humans can determine a correct moral path and work together to follow it.

Freedom

The principle that humans are entitled to rights and freedoms.

Equality

The principle that humans are equal.

Value of Life

The view that life is valuable and that the human experience can be wonderful.

Naturalism

Humanists embrace naturalism whereby they believe truth can be found in observing nature to determine natural laws and forces.

Social

The view that humans are social beings that belong together as a collective such as a society or community.

Altruistic Morality

The belief in a universal moral core of humanity and the view that humans are altruistic and moral. This often takes on an idealistic and euphoric tone.

Human Flourishing

The goal of life under humanism is for human societies to flourish to produce "self-fulfillment." For example, humanists reject the idea that the goal of life is to prepare for an afterlife.

Rational Thought

The principle that knowledge is rooted in rational thought, observation, experimentation and experience.

Tradition & Culture

An embrace of all things human and deep respect for human traditions and cultures.

Secular Humanism

Secular humanism is a comprehensive worldview that embraces human reason, naturalism, altruistic morality and distributive justice. Secular humanism specifically rejects religion as a basis for morality and decision making while holding the door open for it to be valuable as a tradition and culture.

Religious Humanism

Religious humanism is a religious movement characterized by the absence of espoused belief in a God. Religious humanism focuses on serving human needs for ritual and community. Religious humanism is typically based on a number of principles and doctrines regarding human nature, society and the universe in general.

Progressivism

Promotion of aggressive change, progress, science and technology.

Ideology & Religion

Modern humanism isn't a succinct philosophy but is rather an expansive ideology and religion as represented by secular and religious humanism. These take a strong position on a broad number of social and philosophical issues such that they offer a complete worldview.
Overview: Humanism
Type
Definition
A philosophical tradition based around a belief in human agency, rational thought, naturalism and altruistic morality.
Related Concepts

Philosophy

This is the complete list of articles we have written about philosophy.
Agency
Alienation
Altruism
Amor Fati
Angst
Anomie
Archetypes
Art For Art's Sake
Be Yourself
Causality
Consciousness
Determinism
Duty
Empiricism
Epic Meaning
Falsifiability
Free Will
Holism
Human Spirit
Humanism
Individualism
Infinity
Intentionality
Last Man
Life
Life Direction
Modernism
Life Is Fair
Materialism
Not Even Wrong
Nietzsche
Nihilism
Objective Reality
Perfect Imperfection
Personal Philosophy
Randomness
Plato
Reality
Postmodernism
Rationalism
Scarcity Mindset
Real World
Relativism
Scientism
Self-Concept
Selling Out
Socrates
Stoicism
Virtue
Ubermensch
Wabi Sabi
Way Of Life
More ...
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References

Paden, Roger. "Foucault's anti-humanism." Human Studies (1987): 123-141.
Remer, Gary. Humanism and the Rhetoric of Toleration. Penn State Press, 1996.
Norman, Richard. On Humanism. Routledge, 2013.
Ehrenfeld, David W. The arrogance of humanism. Oxford University Press, 1981.
Levinas, Emmanuel, and Emmanuel Levinas. Humanism of the Other. University of Illinois Press, 2003.
Rychlak, Joseph F. The psychology of rigorous humanism. New York University Press, 1988.

Philosophy

An overview of philosophy with examples.

Relativism

The definition of relativism with examples.

Personal Philosophy

The definition of personal philosophy with examples.

Social Constructionism

The definition of social constructionism with examples.

Objective Reality

The definition of objective reality with examples.

Scarcity Mindset

The definition of scarcity mindset with examples.

Perfectionism

The definition of perfectionism with examples.

Perfect Imperfection

The definition of perfect imperfection with examples.

Altruism

The definition of altruism with examples and counterexamples.
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