UNIDAD EDUCATIVA PARTICULAR “SAN JOSÉ DE CALASANZ”

Name:…………………………… Date: ……….……………

Grade: 2do bachillerato Subject: History and Social Sciences

PART IV: HUMANISM

The word "humanism" has a number of meanings. And because authors and
speakers often don't clarify which meaning they intend, those trying to explain
humanism can easily become a source of confusion. Fortunately, each
meaning of the word constitutes a different type of humanism—the different
types being easily separated and defined by the use of appropriate adjectives.
So it is relatively easy to summarize the varieties of humanism in this way.
Literary Humanism is a devotion to the humanities or literary culture.
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.
Western Cultural Humanism is a good name for 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.
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.
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.
Modern Humanism, 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.
Secular Humanism is an outgrowth of eighteenth century enlightenment
rationalism and nineteenth century freethought. Many secular groups, such as
the Council for Secular Humanism and the American Rationalist Federation,
and many otherwise unaffiliated academic philosophers and scientists,
advocate this philosophy.
Religious Humanism largely 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.

What do humanists believe?

Humanists believe:
• That we can live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs;
• That we only have one life and we should make the best of it, creating
meaning and purpose for ourselves and making sense of the world using
reason, experience and shared human values;
• That we should try to live happy and fulfilled lives and help others to do so;
• that the way to achieve this is to live responsibly, thinking rationally about
right and wrong, considering the consequences of our actions and trying to do
the right thing Humanism is an ethical worldview, not just an atheistic or
agnostic one.
What’s it all about?
Humanists ask themselves the same questions as everyone else: Why am I
here? What’s the purpose of life? How did life begin? What will happen to me
when I die? Religious people often come up with answers based on faith in
God; humanists look for answers based on reason, experience and shared
human values. Humanists look for evidence before they believe things – and
so they are likely to believe what scientists or their own experiences tell them,
or to remain open-minded about questions, rather than to believe what
someone else says. Humanists tend to think about these big questions for
themselves. Some questions may not have answers, or we might not like the
most probable answers. Religious answers to these questions may not be the
best ones.

Enjoy life
“Happiness is the only good…the time to be happy is now, and the way to be
happy is to make others so,” wrote Robert Ingersoll, a prominent American
humanist in the nineteenth century. One way to make others happy is to be
happy yourself and humanists do not believe in pointless self-denial. It is
reasonable to enjoy the good things in life - such as friendship, the arts, and
the natural world - if you can do so without harming others or the
environment.
About religion
Humanists are agnostic (a-gnostic = without knowledge) because they think
that we cannot know for sure the answers to some of the big questions about
life, including whether God exists or not. Because there is no evidence for the
existence of God or for an after-life, humanists live their lives as atheists (a-
theist = without god), and find other reasons for living good lives.
Can you be good without gods?
Humans have evolved as a social and co-operative species - we need to live
and work together. Very few of us could survive long or be happy without
other people. Humanists believe that morality is based on human nature and
experience alone; it has not come from a god or sacred text or authority.
Because we all depend on each other, it is sensible to treat other people as we
would like to be treated ourselves and to work together to solve problems.
Humanists have often been very active in charitable work, education and
social reform, and played important parts in setting up organisations like the
United Nations, the World Health Organisation, the Food and Agriculture
Organisation, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and Oxfam.
What about Christmas?
People often wonder what humanists do at Christmas or Easter, which are
essentially Christian festivals. Like most people, humanists enjoy holidays,
exchanging presents, seeing family, going to parties – and are quite happy to
have holidays to cheer up the darkest days of winter and to welcome the
beginning of spring or the new year. Many of our festivals are much older
than Christianity, and were simply adopted by early Christians as good times
to celebrate.
What do humanists do about births, marriages and deaths?
They celebrate the first two and grieve over deaths, like everyone else. At
these important times people often look to their religions to provide an
appropriate ceremony, but humanists are not obliged to mark these occasions
in any particular way or even at all, if they do not wish to. But non-religious
people often do like to mark these moments with special ceremonies,
preferably without hypocrisy, and the BHA can help them. Humanist
weddings can be carried out anywhere and for anyone, and the couple
involved can choose exactly the words and music they want. Babies can be
welcomed in baby-naming ceremonies, where family and friends show their
love and happiness and parents can choose guardians or mentors to help bring
up the baby. When humanists die, their lives can be commemorated in a
humanist ceremony; humanists believe that we live on in the memories of
family and friends and in the work we do in our lives.
Humanist history
Humanist ideas are part of a long tradition of skepticism, atheism and belief in
a non-religious basis for morality. Many famous philosophers, scientists and
writers are part of that tradition.

UNIDAD EDUCATIVA PARTICULAR “SAN JOSÉ DE CALASANZ”

Name:………………………………………………………… Date: ……….…………………………….
Grade: 2do bachillerato Subject: History and Social Sciences

PART IV: HUMANISN WORKSHEET #1

1. What are the types of humanism that exist?
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2. What do humanist believe?

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3. In your opinion, what you do need to be a humanist?

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4. Are all humanist religious?

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5. In your own words, could you be humanist without a god?
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6. Are you a humanist? Why? And give at least 2 examples of why you
consider yourself a humanist.
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7. Define the word humanist in three words.

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