The ideas of humanism have an interesting history. The term itself is translated from Latin as "humanity". It was used already in the 1st century. BC e. Roman orator Cicero.
The main ideas of humanism are related to respect for the dignity of every person.
At a Glance
The ideas of humanism presuppose the recognition of all the basic rights of the individual: to life, to development, to realize one's capabilities, to strive for a happy life. In world culture, such principles appeared in the ancient world. The statements of the Egyptian priest Sheshi, in which he talked about helping the poor, came from the third millennium BC.
Ancient world
A significant number of similar texts discovered by historians is a direct confirmation that the ideas of philosophical humanism existed in Ancient Egypt.
In the Books of wisdom of Amenemone there are principles of humanism, moral behavior of a person, which is a direct confirmation of the high level of morality of the ancient Egyptians. In the culture of this state, everything wasimmersed in an atmosphere of religiosity combined with true humanity.
The ideas of humanism permeate the entire history of mankind. Gradually, a humanistic worldview appeared - a theory about the integrity, unity and vulnerability of human society. In the Sermon on the Mount of Christ, ideas about the voluntary rejection of social inequality, the oppression of weak people, and the consideration of mutual support are clearly traced. Long before the advent of Christianity, the ideas of humanism were deeply and clearly realized by the wisest representatives of mankind: Confucius, Plato, Gandhi. Such principles are found in Buddhist, Muslim, Christian ethics.
European roots
In culture, the main ideas of humanism appeared in the XIV century. From Italy they spread to Western Europe (XV century). The main ideas of humanism of the Renaissance (Renaissance) led to major changes in European culture. This period lasted almost three centuries, ending at the beginning of the 17th century. The Renaissance is called the time of major changes in the history of Europe.
Renaissance Period
The ideas of the era of humanism are striking in their relevance, timeliness, focus on each individual.
Thanks to the high level of urban civilization, capitalist relations began to emerge. The imminent crisis of the feudal system led to the creation of large-scale national states. The result of such serious transformations was the formation of an absolute monarchy - a political system within which two social groups developed: hiredworkers and the bourgeoisie.
Significant changes took place in the spiritual world of man. A man in the Renaissance was obsessed with the idea of self-affirmation, tried to make great discoveries, actively connected to public life. People were rediscovering the world of nature, striving for its full study, admiring the beauty.
The ideas of Renaissance humanism assumed a secular perception and characterization of the world. The culture of this era sang of the greatness of the human mind, the values of earthly life. Human creativity was encouraged.
The ideas of Renaissance humanism became the basis for the work of many artists, poets and writers of that time. Humanists were negative about the dictatorship of the Catholic Church. They criticized the method of scholastic science, which presupposed formal logic. Humanists did not accept dogmatism, faith in specific authorities, they tried to create conditions for the development of free creativity.
Becoming a concept
The main ideas of humanism in creativity were first expressed in a return to the medieval ancient scientific and cultural heritage, which was almost forgotten.
The improvement of human spirituality was observed. The main role in many Italian universities was assigned to those sets of disciplines that consisted of rhetoric, poetry, ethics, history. These subjects became the theoretical basis of the Renaissance culture and were called the humanities. It was believed that it was in them that the essence of the idea of humanism was stated.
Latin term humanitas in thatperiod signified the desire to develop human dignity, despite the long demeaning of everything that was directly related to the life of an ordinary person.
The ideas of modern humanism also lie in establishing harmony between activity and enlightenment. Humanists urged people to study ancient culture, which was denied by the church as pagan. Church ministers chose from this cultural heritage only those moments that did not contradict the Christian doctrine they promoted.
For humanists, the restoration of the ancient cultural and spiritual heritage was not an end in itself, it was the basis for solving urgent problems of our time, creating a new culture.
Renaissance period literature
Its origin dates back to the second half of the 14th century. This process is connected with the names of Giovanni Boccaccio and Francesco Petrarch. It was they who promoted the ideas of humanism in literature, praising the dignity of the individual, the valiant deeds of mankind, freedom and the right to enjoy earthly joys.
The poet and philosopher Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) is rightfully considered the founder of humanism. He became the first great humanist, citizen and poet who managed to reflect the ideas of humanism in art. Thanks to his creativity, he instilled consciousness in the future generations of various tribes in Eastern and Western Europe. Perhaps it was not always clear and understandable to the average person, but the cultural and spiritual unity promoted by the thinker became a program for educating Europeans.
The work of Petrarch revealed many newways that were used by contemporaries for the development of Italian Renaissance culture. In the treatise "On the Ignorance of Oneself and Many Others", the poet rejected scholastic scholarship, in which scientific work was considered a waste of time.
It was Petrarch who introduced the ideas of humanism in culture. The poet was convinced that it was possible to achieve a new flourishing in art, literature, and science not by blindly imitating the thoughts of predecessors, but by striving to reach the heights of ancient culture, rethink them and try to surpass them.
That line, which was invented by Petrarch, became the main idea of the attitude of humanists to ancient culture and art. He was sure that the content of true philosophy should be the science of man. All the works of Petrarch called for transferring to the study of this object of knowledge.
With his ideas, the poet managed to lay a solid foundation for the formation of personal self-consciousness in this historical period.
The ideas of humanism in literature and music offered by Petrarch made it possible for the creative self-realization of the individual.
Distinguishing Features
If in the Middle Ages human behavior corresponded to the norms that were approved in the corporation, then in the Renaissance they began to abandon universal concepts, turn to the individual, specific individual.
The main ideas of humanism are reflected in literature and music. Poets sang in their works of mannot according to his social affiliation, but according to the fruitfulness of his activity, personal merit.
Activities of the humanist Leon Battista Alberti
He can be considered a prime example of a humanistic approach to culture and art. An architect, painter, author of several treatises on art, Leon formulated the basic principles of composition in painting:
- symmetry and color balance;
- poses and gestures of the characters.
Alberti believed that a person can defeat any vicissitudes of fate only through his own activity.
He claimed: “The one who does not want to be defeated wins easily. He who is accustomed to obey endures the yoke of fate.”
The work of Lorenzo Valla
It would be wrong to idealize humanism without considering its individual tendencies. As an example, let's take the work of Lorenzo Valla (1407-1457). His main philosophical work "On Pleasure" considers a person's desire for pleasure as mandatory characteristics. The author considered the personal good as a "measure" of morality. According to his position, there is no point in dying for the motherland, as she will never appreciate it.
Many contemporaries considered Lorenzo Valla's position as asocial, did not support his humanistic ideas.
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
In the second half of the 15th century, humanistic thoughts were replenished with new ideas. Among them, the statements of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola were of interest. He put forward the ideadignity of the individual, noting the special properties of a person in comparison with other living beings. In the work "Speech on the Dignity of Man" he puts him at the center of the world. By asserting, contrary to church dogma, that God did not create in his own image and likeness of Adam, but gave him the opportunity to create himself, Giovanni caused serious damage to the reputation of the church.
As the culmination of humanistic anthropocentrism, the idea was expressed that the dignity of a person lies in his freedom, the ability to be what he himself wishes.
When glorifying the greatness of man, admiring the amazing creations of individuals, all thinkers of the Renaissance period necessarily came to the conclusion about the rapprochement of man and God.
The divinity of humanity was seen as the magic of nature.
Important aspects
In the arguments of Marsilio Ficino, Gianozzo Manetti, Pico, Tommaso Campanella, one could see an important characteristic of humanistic anthropocentrism - the desire for unlimited deification of man.
Despite this point of view, the humanists were neither atheists nor heretics. On the contrary, most of the enlighteners of that period were believers.
According to the Christian worldview, God was in the first place, and only then was man. Humanists, on the other hand, put forward a person, and only after that they talked about God.
The divine principle can be traced in the philosophy of even the most radical humanists of the Renaissance, but this did not prevent them from being critical of the church,regarded as a social institution.
Thus, the humanistic worldview included anti-clerical (against the church) views that did not accept its dominance in society.
The writings of Lorenzo Valla, Poggio Bracciolini, Leonardo Bruni, Erasmus of Rotterdam contain serious speeches against the popes, expose the vices of the representatives of the church, note the moral debauchery of monasticism.
This attitude did not prevent humanists from becoming ministers of the church, for example, Enea Silvio Piccolomini and Tommaso Parentucelli were even elevated to the papal throne in the 15th century.
Almost until the middle of the sixteenth century, humanists were not persecuted by the Catholic Church. Representatives of the new culture were not afraid of the fires of the Inquisition, they were considered diligent Christians.
Only the Reformation - the movement that was created to renew the faith - forced the church to change its attitude towards the humanists.
Despite the fact that the Renaissance and the Reformation were united by deep hostility in scholasticism, longed for church renewal, dreamed of a return to the roots, the Reformation expressed a serious protest against the Renaissance ex altation of man.
To a particular extent, such contradictions manifested themselves when comparing the views of the Dutch humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam and the founder of the Reformation, Martin Luther. Their opinions overlapped with each other. They were sarcastic about the privileges of the Catholic Church, allowed themselves sarcastic remarks aboutway of life of Roman theologians.
They held different points of view on issues related to free will. Luther was convinced that in the face of God man is deprived of dignity and will. He can be saved only if he understands that he is not able to be the creator of his own destiny.
Luther considered unlimited faith as the only condition for salvation. For Erasmus, the fate of man was compared in importance with the existence of God. For him, the Holy Scriptures became a call addressed to man, and whether a man responds to the words of God or not is his will.
Ideas of humanism in Russia
The first serious poets of the 18th century, Derzhavin and Lomonosov, combined secularized nationalism with humanist ideas. Great Russia became a source of inspiration for them. They enthusiastically told in their works about the greatness of Russia. Of course, such actions can be seen as a kind of protest against blind imitation of the West. Lomonosov was considered a true patriot, in his odes he proclaimed that science and culture could develop on Russian soil.
Derzhavin, who is often called the "singer of Russian glory", defended the dignity and freedom of man. Such a motif of humanism gradually turned into a crystallization core of a renewed ideology.
Among the prominent representatives of Russian humanism of the eighteenth century, Novikov and Radishchev can be noted. Novikov, at the age of twenty-five, published the journal Truten, whose pages told about Russian life at that time.
Waging a serious fight against the blindimitating the West, constantly ridiculing the cruelty of that period, Novikov wrote sadly about the difficult situation of the Russian peasant people. At the same time, the process of creating a renewed national identity was carried out. Russian humanists of the 18th century began to put forward morality as an important aspect, they preached the predominance of morality over reason.
For example, Fonvizin in the novel "Undergrowth" notes that the mind is only a "trinket", and good manners bring a direct price to it.
This thought was the main idea of the Russian consciousness that existed in that historical period.
The second bright admirer of Russian humanism of this time is A. N. Radishchev. His name is surrounded by a halo of martyrdom. For subsequent generations of the Russian intelligentsia, he became a symbol of a person who actively solved social problems.
In his work, he one-sidedly covered philosophical values, so he became associated with an active "hero" of the radical Russian movement, a fighter for the liberation of the peasants. It was for his radical views that Radishchev was called a Russian revolutionary nationalist.
His fate was rather tragic, which attracted many historians of the national Russian movement of the eighteenth century to him.
Russia of the XVIII century strove for secular radicalism of the descendants of those people who once supported the ideas of church radicalism. Radishchev stood out among them in that he based his thoughts on natural law, which at that time was associated with Rousseauism, criticism of untruth.
He was not alone in his ideology. Very fasta lot of young people appeared around Radishchev, demonstrating their favorable attitude towards freedom of thought.
Conclusion
Humanistic ideas that originated in the 16th-17th centuries have not lost their relevance at the present time. Despite the fact that today there is a different economic and political system, universal human values have not lost their relevance: a benevolent attitude towards other people, respect for the interlocutor, the ability to identify creative abilities in each person.
Such principles have become not only the basis for the creation of works of art, but also the basis for the modernization of the domestic system of education and upbringing.
The works of many representatives of the Renaissance, who reflected humanist ideas in their work, are considered in the lessons of literature and history. Note that the principle of nominating a person as an important living being has become the basis for the development of new educational standards in education.
