The term 'humanism' is derived from Greek word 'homo' which is equivalent to the English word 'human'. So huanism as a philosophy is concerned primarily with human beings. Man here occupies the supreme position and so this philosophy is anthro-pocentric. Man as concerned with himself as an object of contemplation might be regarded as humanism. Humanism recognises the dignity of man, and it makes man the measure of all things. Man here is considered as the maker of his own destiny. He very much confidently feels that the real power is to be derived from his own self. He is least concerned about the supernatural forces. He lives a truly worldly life without bothering about the hereafter. Man regards himself not simply as a creator, but also as a harbinger of revolutionary spirit. It can be observed that humanism revolves around three basic tenets: firstly it lays stress on the dignity of worldly men, secondly the emancipation of his individualism and thirdly confidence in the revolutionary destiny of man. These are the various factors which have greatly contributed to the emergence of the human point of view, which means the assessment, appraisal and evaluation of everything from this point of view. Humanism enumerates those thoughts, beliefs and value patterns which perfect the ideals and integrals of human dignity. In philosophy, human goals and fulfilments have been interpreted in terms of the social order of civilized man evolved through a movement towards wholeness, harmony, transcendence and unity. To explain this, let us see the psycho-biological dimension of human person. For the growth of human personality, every human being requires love, security and self-maintenance at the individual level. At the social level human personality is defined in terms of role, status and contributions. As a transcending human personality degree of cosmic affiliation and the solidarity with supreme object characterizes the development. Humanism, therefore, stands for the acknowledgement of the developmental patterns as well as the derivation of the human meanings from these developments. In the nineteenth century material affluence gave rise to the concept of Absolute Humanism. According to Absolute Humanism man is the measure of all things and as such it adheres to the Greek Protagorrean principle. Humanism laid stress on the efficacy of material aspect at the cost of the spiritual aspects of human life. This one-sided approach could in abeyance. Thus, the fuller growth of human kind could not be realised It gave rise to the conflicts and discords. In place of integration and harmony, world got divided more sharply. Excess of materialism retarded the human faculties to grow and prosper. It was due to isolated doctrine of humanism that the ninetenth and the twentieth century witnessed the most heinous homicide all over the world. Besides, the process of human life is so intricate that it is not comprehensible with the help of mere biological sciences. In the light of this fact the contemporary philosophers came to the conclusion that without spiritual mind it is futile to expect any human meaning from the laboratories only. Spiritualism is an essential ingredient of human life for it convinces the human beings regarding their entity as the manifestation of the Supreme Being. Through spiritual realisation human beings advance towards the realisation of the inherent force in them. Humanism, in all its versions, postulates an ideal human person as the embodiment of all the virtues required for coming into direct comity with the cosmic person. In fact, 'Absolute Humanism' refers to man as a mere by-product of the cosmic process. It is 'trans-humanism' which makes the man the mentor and custodian of evolution. Both man and cosmos are foci of dimensions and polarities. There are four successive dimensions of the structure of cosmos matter, life, mind and values. The notion of four successive dimensions dialectically resolved into self-transcendence, is fundamental in a philosophical theory of cosmic humanism. Modern scientific theories based on Newtonian outlook of the physical world do not acknowledge the transcendence as they visualise the mankind as the keen observer of the guiding natural process without emphasizing over the man as a segment of this cosmic evolutiontary process. In fact man is unique in cosmic evolution in view of the fact that he symbolizes the dominance of mind over inert matter and life. Cosmic humanism postulates that the eternal cosmic evolutionary process has been keenly observed by man not as a passive observer but as active partner. It is in this process of realisation and observation that human beings find the answer to most of the perplexing issues confronting mankind. Human self is a transcending self. This transcendence takes man to assimilate the concept of unity and wholeness prevailing in the cosmos through comprehension of the dialectic processes. Once these aspects of cosmic unity and wholeness are realised by the extension of self.
Dr. (Mrs.) Pratibha Sinha is M. A. in Philosophy with specialisation in Indian Philosophy and Religion and she did her Ph. D in the field of ethical concept from Patna University. She has contributed research articles to various journals of philosophical studies. At present she is a Reader of the Department of Philosophy in the J. D. Women's College, Patna a Constituent Unit of Magadh University.
Tolerance compromise and harmony have become the absurd terms in the practical life. These values are discussed but not realised. People believe in dominating the others and the spirit of dominance has culminated into the creation of the hostile blocks if we refer to the world and the hostile groups if we refer to the society. This work is an effort to look into the reasons for this calamity with a special concern for those doctrines which always helped the human beings in enriching and realising the human potentials. Further, it is also an attempt to highlight the concern of Indian philosophers specifically R.N. Tagore, Aurobindo Ghosh, Vivekananda and Dr. Radhakrishnan for the humanist values and attitude.
Hindu (1822)
Philosophers (2354)
Aesthetics (319)
Comparative (76)
Dictionary (12)
Ethics (57)
Language (352)
Logic (86)
Mimamsa (62)
Nyaya (143)
Psychology (553)
Samkhya (65)
Shaivism (67)
Shankaracharya (236)
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Visual Search
Manage Wishlist