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Enlightentment and Humanism:
There is always confusion with definitions and associations between 'enlightenment' and 'humanism'. Whilst 'enlightenment' is a set of events within the development of European history, 'humanism' is a set of subject matter and arguments on social relationships emerging from 'enlightenment'. Humanistic views make a distinction between how humanity reacts to themselves within a historical context, whilst affected by a philosophical concept. However, humanism has an ill-defined agenda
(Foucault, 1978, p. 1).
and it cannot be said that humanistic values in today's society are characterized with clarity. Views on the concept of race, for example, can and often do have diverse meanings to different people. Humanism subsequently emerged as a conflict between Christianity and sets of thought developing outside of the 'faith', namely within 'enlightenment'.
Humanism is really a socio-political doctrine that is not restricted to the boundaries of one particular society. It is a cross-cultural concept with internal issues that cover and include all of humankind. In particular it deals with issues concerning human beings. Humanism relies to a large extent on reason and logic and definitely rejects concepts such as superstition and supernaturalism. However, most religions consider that they are humanist by nature, because their guiding policies are humane. Humanism is a general guiduing principal for life. It is not a concept that drives humankind's lifestyle as does the phenomenon of Scientific Rationalism.
Figure 1: humanism definitions for the enlightenment.
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Literary Humanism:
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Literary Humanism is a devotion to the humanities or literary culture.
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Renaissance Humanism:
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Renaissance Humanism is the spirit of learning that developed at the end of the middle ages with the revival of classical letters and a renewed confidence in the ability of human beings to determine for themselves truth and falsehood.
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Cultural Humanism:
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Cultural Humanism is the rational and empirical tradition that originated largely in ancient Greece and Rome, evolved throughout European history, and now constitutes a basic part of the Western approach to science, political theory, ethics, and law.
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Philosophical Humanism:
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Philosophical Humanism is any outlook or way of life centered on human need and interest. Sub-categories of this type include Christian Humanism and Modern Humanism.
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Christian Humanism:
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Christian Humanism is defined by Webster's Third New International Dictionary as "a philosophy advocating the self- fulfillment of man within the framework of Christian principles." This more human-oriented faith is largely a product of the Renaissance and is a part of what made up Renaissance humanism
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Modern Humanism:
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Modern Humanism is also called Naturalistic Humanism, Scientific Humanism, Ethical Humanism and Democratic Humanism is defined by one of its leading proponents, Corliss Lamont, as "a naturalistic philosophy that rejects all supernaturalism and relies primarily upon reason and science, democracy and human compassion." Modern Humanism has a dual origin, both secular and religious, and these constitute its sub-categories.
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Secular Humanism:
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Secular Humanism is an outgrowth of 18th century enlightenment rationalism and 19th century freethought. Many secular groups, such as the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism and the American Rationalist Federation, and many otherwise unaffiliated academic philosophers and scientists, advocate this philosophy.
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Religious Humanism:
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Religious Humanism emerged out of Ethical Culture, Unitarianism, and Universalism. Today, many Unitarian- Universalist congregations and all Ethical Culture societies describe themselves as humanist in the modern sense.
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To determine a real definition for the term 'humanism' however, is a very difficult task. The most comprehensive answer that I could find is listed in Figure 1 and compiled by the Executive Director, American Humanist Association. This reference's standing can encompass all fields of human endeavour.
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Enlightentment and Scientific Rationalism:
The rationality of 'western science' is well documented and is sometimes understood as a twentieth century myth. It does not take into account all human experiences
(Golding, 1997, p. 1),
such as religious concepts and indigenous social models in the vein of Aboriginal Dreaming. Reason is not necessarily a sole source of knowledge, as some rationalists seem to think. Yet, as scientific rationalism emerged from and co-existed with Cultural Humanism in the 17th century, it now affects all western social living milieus. Western Scientific Rationalism however, is not the only source of knowledge available to humanity today. It is only a portion of a greater picture and should be understood as emerging from a cultural or pragmatic tradition, rather than from a spiritual source, or even a supernatural doctrine of thought.
Scientific rationalism and enlightenment had their origins within a pre-Socratic society of Ancient Greece, in a historical process, which changed the meaning of terminology. Consequently, the terms 'science' and 'knowledge' are related but have diverse and often obscure meanings
(Hooker, 1999a, p. 1).
Universal perception and philosophical thought is recognized as trends towards human origins and learning in an ancient Greek poem, Theogony written by Hesiod in about 705BC
(Hooker, 1999b, p. 1),
whilst science is recognised as having its beginnings with Aristotle's empiricism
(Hooker, 1999c, p. 1),
about a thousand years later.
As knowledge was reasoned from experience, Socrates built his knowledge on these, as well as the views of others and was well known for his observations on human ethics. He did not however, view the nature of 'a science' from the standpoint of a testable truth. He perceived it as a fundamental development of the intellect, as well as an awakening of an underlying condition of humanism
(Tarnas, 2000, pp. 38).
Plato and subsequently Aristotle began investigating the knowledge of their predecessors after a thousand years, whilst Greek philosophy and thought was taking on new meanings. As such Greek society slowly became humanistic by nature and the foundation of modern scientific rationalism took root.
The acceptance of a 'Western Science Rationality' took a step closed to reality during the 'Scientific Revolution' of the 1500's. Prior to this, scientific study and processes were deeply entrenched in Aristotelian philosophy
(Rempel, 1998, p. 1),
Christian doctrine
(Layola University Libraries, 2001, p.1)
and to an extent, alchemy. Moreover, there was always disagreement as to what true 'scientific investigation' was really about. The Scientific Revolution changed all that. This era of modern thinking began at the time of Copernicus as an advancement of the theory of a 'sun-centered universe', continued to the time of Newton and his 'mathematical universe' and is still in experience today as a Gatonian computer age. The Scientific Revolution is an era of change and a shift from a closed, supernatural view of the creation, to one of a mechanical view of a 'universe', rather than a 'cosmos'. This is a perception also taken by Outram in her essay about the Enlightenment, "What is Enlightenment?" Scientific thinking is no longer a source seeking meaning, but a phenomenon of human power over nature.
(Outram, 1995, p. 9).
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