Facets of Humanism

When the humanistic world view had its beginning in Protagoras’s declaration that man is the measure of things, it was very soon condemned as a subjective, individualistic doctrine — without being understood. Yet, since the importance of humanism in the making of a meaningful, value-based society can never be overlooked, humanistic ideals kept trickling in over the years in both Western and Indian philosophical speculations; and it came to be increasingly realised that nothing unhuman can be of interest to man and nothing human can be alien to human thinking. However, ‘humanism’ now-a-days has become somewhat of a cliche, so much so that almost everybody engaged in some sort of intellectual exercise claims to be a humanist. What is required, therefore, is proper analysis and understanding of ‘humanism’ and its implications on, and applicability to, the present social scenario. With this objective, this book has focussed on the various aspects of humanism and the authors have attempted to carve out suitable models thereof for effective social structuring and nation building. Readers will benefit by the indepth analyses of the concept in its multifarious dimensions and its application to various aspects of intellectual discourse. Facets of Humanism will be of immense use to students and researchers in philosophy and the social sciences.