This book is a breakthrough in illuminating humanism. For the first time it is presented in an intercultural perspective. It introduces Chinese, Indian, African, Islamic, and Western traditions into the intercultural discussion about basic issues of understanding the human world. By this means it recognizes different disciplinary perspectives: history, philosophy as well as religious, literary and gender studies. Special emphasis is put on the controversial relationship between humanism and religion. This complex network of argumentations is an answer to the challenge of cultural orientation at the age of globalization. Humanism is brought to life as a synthesis of transcultural values and a mutual and critical recognition of cultural differences.

The old humanistic model, aiming at universalism, ecumenism, and the globalization of various Western systems of values and beliefs, is no longer adequate - even if it pleads for an ever-wider inclusion of other cultural perspectives and for intercultural dialogue. In contrast, it would be wise to retain a number of its assumptions and practices - which it incidentally shares with humanistic models outside the Western world. We must now reconsider and remap it in terms of a larger, global reference frame. This anthology does just that, thus contributing to a new field of study and practice that could be called intercultural humanism.

Every human life form encapsulates an idea of humankind and humanity. Today, this very idea is challenged by the various and diverging needs for cultural orientation in the age of globalization. One of the recent attempts to meet these challenges is provided by a new humanism with an intercultural intent. Such humanism can be conceptualized only by the collaborative efforts of different academic disciplines at exploring the human being as the gist of what is meant by humanity. Thus, this volume explores the pertinent fields of knowledge from the perspectives of philosophy, theology, anthropology, sociology, economy, psychology, neurobiology, history, and gender studies. Focusing on the guiding question of what is meant by being a human, the contributions of this volume encompass a fascinating spectrum of insights, which will orientate future discussions on humanity and humanism. Every human life form encapsulates an idea of humankind and humanity. Today, this very idea is challenged by the various and diverging needs for cultural orientation in the age of globalization. One of the recent attempts to meet these challenges is provided by a new humanism with an intercultural intent. Such humanism can be conceptualized only by the collaborative efforts of different academic disciplines at exploring the human being as the gist of what is meant by humanity. Thus, this volume explores the pertinent fields of knowledge from the perspectives of philosophy, theology, anthropology, sociology, economy, psychology, neurobiology, history, and gender studies. Focusing on the guiding question of what is meant by being a human, the contributions of this volume encompass a fascinating spectrum of insights, which will orientate future discussions on humanity and humanism.

Every human life form encapsulates an idea of humankind and humanity. Today, this very idea is challenged by the various and diverging needs for cultural orientation in the age of globalization. One of the recent attempts to meet these challenges is provided by a new humanism with an intercultural intent. Such humanism can be conceptualized only by the collaborative efforts of different academic disciplines at exploring the human being as the gist of what is meant by humanity. Thus, this volume explores the pertinent fields of knowledge from the perspectives of philosophy, theology, anthropology, sociology, economy, psychology, neurobiology, history, and gender studies. Focusing on the guiding question of what is meant by being a human, the contributions of this volume encompass a fascinating spectrum of insights, which will orientate future discussions on humanity and humanism.

This book introduces into the current global ethics debate models of humanism developed in classical Chinese traditions, which have not yet been comprehensively presented to Western scholarship or integrated into the framework of global discourses on social ethics and morality. It creates new paradigms for an understanding of humanism that meets the demands of our time. It begins by presenting European descriptions and critical assessments of this discourse, and then moves to an exploration of humanistic ideas shaped through historical developments in Asia, with a focus on the Chinese tradition. In this sense, the book is written from a transcivilizational perspective. The methods used in the research transcend---that is, surpass and overcome---the rigid, isolating, and essentialist concept of civilization. At the same time, the book points to the possibility of transformation through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between different civilizations. Within this framework, the book starts from the assumption that the ontology of civilizations and cultures is not based on immutable substances, but on the relations between different factors that constitute them as categories. The transcivilizational perspective rooted in transcultural dialogues between philosophies that originated in different cultures and civilizations is particularly valuable because of the globalized world in which we live today. This means that the problems that affect people in different parts of the world and the issues that are embedded in different geopolitical and developmental frameworks also affect all of humanity. This book is of particular interest to scholars and students of global ethics, globalization, Asian philosophy and Sinology.

The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Humanism presents an edited collection of essays that explore the nature of Humanism as an approach to life, and a philosophical analysis of the key humanist propositions from naturalism and science to morality and meaning. Represents the first book of its kind to look at Humanism not just in terms of its theoretical underpinnings, but also its consequences and its diverse manifestations Features contributions from international and emerging scholars, plus renowned figures such as Stephen Law, Charles Freeman and Jeaneanne Fowler Presents Humanism as a positive alternative to theism Brings together the world’s leading Humanist academics in one reference work

The old humanistic model, aiming at universalism, ecumenism, and the globalization of various Western systems of values and beliefs, is no longer adequate – even if it pleads for an ever-wider inclusion of other cultural perspectives and for intercultural dialogue.In contrast, it would be wise to retain a number of its assumptions and practices – which it incidentally shares with humanistic models outside the Western world. We must now reconsider and remap it in terms of a larger, global reference frame. This anthology does just that, thus contributing to a new field of study and practice that could be called »intercultural humanism«.

"This book describes humanism in a systematic and historical perspective. It analyzes its manifestation and function in cultural studies and its role in the present. Special attention is given to the intention of contemporary humanism to overcome ethno-centric elements in the cultural orientation of contemporary living conditions and to develop humane dimensions of this orientation. This is linked to a fundamental critique of the current post-human self-understanding of the humanities. It emphasizes the intercultural aspect in the understanding of humanism. Sitting at the intersection of history and philosophy, it is perfect for those exploring humanism from an historical perspective"--

Humanism and the Death of God is a critical exploration of secular humanism and its discontents. Through close readings of three exemplary nineteenth-century philosophical naturalists or materialists, who perhaps more than anyone set the stage for our contemporary quandaries when it comes to questions of human nature and moral obligation, Ronald E. Osborn argues that "the death of God" ultimately tends toward the death of liberal understandings of the human as well. Any fully persuasive defense of humanistic values—including the core humanistic concepts of inviolable dignity, rights, and equality attaching to each individual—requires an essentially religious vision of personhood. Osborn shows such a vision is found in an especially dramatic and historically consequential way in the scandalous particularity of the Christian narrative of God becoming a human. He does not attempt to provide logical proofs for the central claims of Christian humanism along the lines some philosophers might demand. Instead, this study demonstrates how philosophical naturalism or materialism, and secular humanisms and anti-humanisms, might be persuasively read from the perspective of a classically orthodox Christian faith.

This book includes studies by leading philosophers and cultural critics from Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The essays represent different philosophical traditions and contrasting cultural viewpoints in the arts, literature, architecture, philosophy, and the global politics of today. In spite of their discrepancies, the authors of these essays agree on one fundamental point: critical forums of this scope are crucial and thus necessary as we enter the twenty-first century. After two World Wars and the rise of Western and Eastern forms of totalitarianism, these core features of Western civilization – critique, modernity, and humanism – have been contested and dismissed as areas of mere academic interest. The contributors to this book challenge such a view. An Insatiable Dialectic: Essays on Critique, Modernity, and Humanism will be of benefit to scholars, college students, and to probing readers interested in a founding Western legacy that seldom appears as the focus of inquiry in a single book, herein divided into three parts: “Critique and Modernity,” “Humanism and the Humanities,” and “Traditions and Global Modernities.” While modernity and modernization have been embraced by nations around the globe, humanism and critique have almost disappeared from contemporary mainstream discourse, at times unjustly set aside as elitist, or as an obsolete domain of a liberal tradition that has failed to grasp the hard realities of our global age. This book disputes these short-sighted and clearly ideological positions, pointing to the radically transforming effects of modernization on the world’s traditional cultures, and the inevitable problems and challenges in areas relative to religious fundamentalisms, weakening political institutions, ecosystems ravaged by global technologies, and world-wide attempts by various nations to achieve economic and political stability. In the debates and tentative conclusions presented in this book, the reader will learn about the on-going dialectic that shapes modernity through a re-imagined humanism and critique, currently indispensable in an emerging world order in which democratic ideals and intercultural understanding are vanishing possibilities.