Humanism Meaning
/ˈhjuːmənɪz(ə)m/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe study of the humanities or the liberal arts; literary (especially classical) scholarship.
nounSpecifically, a cultural and intellectual movement in 14th-16th century Europe characterised by attention to classical culture and a promotion of vernacular texts, notably during the Renaissance.
Sentence Examples
The poet always takes account of humanism before everything.
Juan put aside his humanism.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Many Renaissance thinkers embraced ____, a philosophy that focused on human potential.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Renaissance ____ emphasized the value and agency of human beings in the world.
Word Origin & History
From human + -ism, borrowed from German Humanismus, coined by Friedrich Immanuel Niethammer in 1808.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"There were good reasons for humanism and the Renaissance to take their origins from fourteenth-century Italy."
— 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 575:
"The idea of a universal human nature brings us to a third theme, humanism. The thinkers of the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment saw an urgent need for a secular foundation for morality, because they were haunted by a historical memory of centuries of religious carnage: the Crusades, the Inquisition, witch hunts, the European wars of religion. They laid that foundation in what we now call humanism, which privileges the well-being of individual men, women, and children over the glory of the tribe, race, nation, or religion. It is individuals, not groups, who are sentient—who feel pleasure and pain, fulfillment and anguish. Whether it is framed as the goal of providing the greatest happiness for the greatest number or as a categorical imperative to treat people as ends rather than means, it was the universal capacity of a person to suffer and flourish, they said, that called on our moral concern."
— 2018, Steven Pinker, “Chapter 1: Dare to Understand!”, in Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, Penguin, →ISBN:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
Many Renaissance thinkers embraced ____, a philosophy that focused on human potential.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Renaissance ____ emphasized the value and agency of human beings in the world.