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What is humanism?

By: Mohammed Yagoub (Zerick)

Humanism is a system of thoughts or actions which is not concerned with the promotion of deities or gods rather it’s a philosophy solely focused on finding better way of serving humanity towards prosperous tomorrow. Since human sense and reason are fallible, humanism invites us to put more efforts especially scientific inquiry, to come up with conclusion that will enable us serve humanity. Being adherent of humanist ideals does not only stop at serving humans but it involves doing what is inherently right to ensure wellbeing of everything in this world as well.

It’s an idea based on a belief that humans as an individuals have ethical responsibility to live eudaimonistic lives while making positive contributions to the wellbeing of all. At the height of its existential concern it puts human values and dignity, through science and reason we can achieve personal fulfilment and help others to accomplish better growth in combination of the two, we can have a better tomorrow. There are several types of humanist philosophies which include but not limited to;

Secular humanism, which is a naturalist philosophy that cherishes the emancipation of an individual from methods of control being put in place by family, religious institution or the state to have power over person’s life and encourages each member of the society to have their own moral standards concerning life. It asserts the importance of impartial reviewing the knowledge gained by different observers before conclusion. Based on secular humanism any knowledge acquired without considering naturalistic determinism has no room to be relied on as an authentic one.

Renaissance humanism came into existence when intellectually adventurous of the middle ages took the journey of discovery that led them to the realms of getting the difference between truth and false.

On the other hand, Humanists of religious denomination believe that humanity’s social and personal needs cannot find answers to their problems outside God’s territory but still give room to believers who have outgrown traditional scope of religion to look for their answers elsewhere as long as they will remain looking for the answers within Divine Commanded territory.
Despite the existence of many schools in the field of humanism, having their diverse interpretations and teachings concerning how humanity can be served. Modern humanism as an intellectual movement overtakes rest in its commitment to impartial approaches which excludes mankind’s superstitious acts that sometimes inspire ritualistic or divine commanded killings of fellow humans in quest for eternal fulfilling.

Even though Modern humanism traces its roots to secular and religious scholarship as philosophical doctrine, it relies solely on science and reason as basis for humanity’s advancement. It doesn’t take the idea of supernatural being who’s responsible for humanity’s existence or the guiding being towards human flourishing.

In desperate need to serve himself better the rational man discovered that we can’t achieve our desired ends by merely dreaming about them, rather by conscious actions. So as creative beings we can take our destiny in our own hand and push for better tomorrow through innovative moves rather than keep sending small petitionary messages to sky in search for answers.

Humanism says whatever type of telescope we use to see how the universe works let’s remain highly awakened that it’s our own responsibility to stop the undesirable actions like murder, theft, non-consensual sex and work towards how good our environment can be rather than waiting for an invisible and undetectable being to come for our rescue. In other words, humanism tells us that we have greater power to do away with blind faith and still can be able to make prosperous world in which each of us can get to a fulfilling life.

Humanism is a revolutionary doctrine by nature, it embraces all types of new developments from technological to scientific fields. Those who identify with humanism are open to intellectual adventures that can lead to untraveled paths. Humanists are people who are ready to be part of discoveries which can be scientifically and rationally provable.

Humanism is a philosophical path that guides those who are seeking the undiscovered realms of knowledge and tells us to be in charge of our own lives rather than crediting or blaming other being(s) for what we ought to be responsible for by ourselves, so it’s a philosophy that shows us the value of life and informs, how we as rational beings can care for this life since there’s no spare part of it can be found elsewhere

Humanism is about protection and promotion of human rights of all forms and advocates for the wellbeing of humanity right now here in this world, it’s a philosophy which deals with today and doesn’t assume existence of other life other than the one we have today. Humanism doesn’t take any deity for authentic source concerning morality and it encourages trial and error as a means for acquiring knowledge.

Humanism is an evolutionist philosophy which says we as humans have come to where we are as a result of evolution that has been taking place for a long period of time on this planet and there’s no rationally justifiable evidence to show that we have separable souls.

Humanism recognizes humanity’s inner built needs that enables them to come up with value systems, as a philosophy that deals with real issues concerning humanity it also recognizes humanity’s morally considerable dilemmas which need to be given attention when making decisions to avoid undesirable consequences. So humanism is about getting answers to problems facing individuals and humanity at large.

Humanism is a freethought based philosophy whose followers are fond of taking adventurous journeys in imaginative realms in quest for knowledge that will get them what they need or want. It encourages its followers to think on their own and come up with their own alternative approaches to conclusion that await. In humanism there’s no monopoly of knowledge, everyone is given enough space to go as far as their imagination takes them to find solutions to problems at hand.

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