Your go-to guide to living life, anywhere and anytime – say hello to Humanism!

Humanism was a philosophical movement during the Renaissance Era that emphasized on human and individual potential, rather than religion and politics. This idea of humanism would eventually become the base of modern Western thought. Important ideas of Renaissance Humanism that were brought down today are: Emphasis on humans, the classical world of Greek and Roman literature, social mobility, secularism, and individualism.

In Humanism, there are many elements that make up the belief, those of which focus on ideas of human compassion, dignity, free thought, etc. The infographic below provides detail on the key elements of Humanism that you could acquaint yourself with to improve the quality of your living.

Totaling the scores I gave for each element in the infographic, I am 84% of a humanist. Overall, Humanism is a solid belief. I believe in and already implement most ideas of it in my own daily life. For example, emphasis on humans – I don’t follow any religion and don’t have a major focus on politics, it’s more important for me to focus on myself and others around me, therefore it gets a 5/5. However, for some other elements such as social mobility, which got a 2/5; even though social standing nowadays does focus on the individual, the idea implies that all that matters is your achievements and merits, which I don’t agree with. Even today, with a more democratic and open-minded society, the type of family your born in still matters. For example, I was born into a family that was able to provide food, education, and tuition to the school that I go to right now, ISB. The position I stand in society as a student who goes to a privileged International school was all because of the family I was born into, so even if family may not be the most important thing that is accounted when it comes to social standing, it still makes up a crucial part of my background.  Another big part of social mobility that I don’t agree with is that your own individual achievements and merits make up your whole character. I don’t believe that is true and in fact, I am judged and compared with others based off of my achievements. In my family, I am constantly compared with my older brother with what I accomplished now versus what he accomplished when he was my age, which is why I don’t agree with the idea.

Today, people practice Modern humanism more rather than Renaissance humanism. Renaissance humanism was the start of this practice, and there were still some focuses on religion, specifically connecting God and humanity. However, people were more interested in the “human” aspect of life and wanted to improve upon all the literature and learning that they absorbed. Today, people naturally focus on things such as science, human compassion, and reason.  By science, it means to be scientific. Question everything and have a passion for learning. I think that Modern Humanism is a great idea, as the scientific aspect of it is able to support all your learning in a consistent and reliable way which I value. For example, my mom reads psychology books, and even though it talks about human emotions and behavior, it is still able to be explained with science – how a sociopath’s brain anatomy affects their structure, different chemical reactions within the brain, etc. In humanism, everything is connected.

Overall, Humanism is not at all a complicated practice, something as simple as extending kindness to a stranger would be “humanism”. The belief simply encourages you to go out into the world and live life as best as you can. So, are you a humanist?