Humanism stresses the importance of human values and dignity. It proposes that people can resolve problems through the use of science and reason. Rather than looking to religious traditions, humanism instead focuses on helping people live well, achieve personal growth, and make the world a better place.
The term "humanism" is often used more broadly, but it also has significance in a number of different fields including psychology. Humanistic psychology is a perspective that emphasizes looking at the whole individual and stresses concepts such as free will, self-efficacy, and self-actualization. Rather than concentrating on dysfunction, humanistic psychology strives to help people fulfill their potential and maximize their well-being. This area of psychology emerged during the s as a reaction to psychoanalysis and behaviorism, which had dominated psychology during the first half of the century.
Psychoanalysis was focused on understanding the unconscious motivations that drive behavior while behaviorism studied the conditioning processes that produce behavior. Humanist thinkers felt that both psychoanalysis and behaviorism were too pessimistic, either focusing on the most tragic of emotions or failing to take into account the role of personal choice.
However, it is not necessary to think of these three schools of thought as competing elements. Each branch of psychology has contributed to our understanding of the human mind and behavior. Humanistic psychology added yet another dimension that takes a more holistic view of the individual. Some religious traditions incorporate elements of humanism as part of their belief systems.
Examples of religious humanism include Quakers, Lutherans, and Unitarian Universalists. Secular humanism rejects all religious beliefs, including the existence of the supernatural. This approach stresses the importance of logic, the scientific method, and rationality when it comes to understanding the world and solving human problems. Humanism focuses on each individual's potential and stresses the importance of growth and self-actualization.
The fundamental belief of humanistic psychology is that people are innately good and that mental and social problems result from deviations from this natural tendency.
Humanism also suggests that people possess personal agency and that they are motivated to use this free will to pursue things that will help them achieve their full potential as human beings.
The need for fulfillment and personal growth is a key motivator of all behavior. People are continually looking for new ways to grow, to become better, to learn new things, and to experience psychological growth and self-actualization. Some of the ways that humanism is applied within the field of psychology include:. The humanist movement had an enormous influence on the course of psychology and contributed new ways of thinking about mental health.
It offered a new approach to understanding human behaviors and motivations and led to developing new techniques and approaches to psychotherapy. For example, painters studied geometry, optics, and anatomy, which. And significantly they rendered the human body not as a thing to be ashamed of, but as an intimate part of nature — and therefore beautiful.
Humanism also gave women an active social and political role. There was also progress in science as a result of humanism. Previously, in medieval times, the stress was on understanding symbolism and heavenly visions. Humanism demanded instead that the world be carefully studied and the laws of nature be minutely observed. This new way of looking at things is exemplified by Nicolas Copernicus, who revolutionized science when he stated that the sun was the center of a vast solar system and that the earth was merely one of the many planets that circled the sun.
Humanism introduced a program to revive the cultural—and particularly the literary—legacy and moral philosophy of classical antiquity. While Humanism initially began as a predominantly literary movement, its influence quickly pervaded the general culture of the time, re-introducing classical Greek and Roman art forms and contributing to the development of the Renaissance. Humanists considered the ancient world to be the pinnacle of human achievement, and thought its accomplishments should serve as the model for contemporary Europe.
Humanism was an optimistic philosophy that saw man as a rational and sentient being, with the ability to decide and think for himself. It saw man as inherently good by nature, which was in tension with the Christian view of man as the original sinner needing redemption. It provoked fresh insight into the nature of reality, questioning beyond God and spirituality, and provided knowledge about history beyond Christian history.
Renaissance Humanists saw no conflict between their study of the Ancients and Christianity. The lack of perceived conflict allowed Early Renaissance artists to combine classical forms, classical themes, and Christian theology freely. Early Renaissance sculpture is a great vehicle to explore the emerging Renaissance style. Donatello became renowned as the greatest sculptor of the Early Renaissance, known especially for his classical, and unusually erotic, statue of David, which became one of the icons of the Florentine republic.
Humanism affected the artistic community and how artists were perceived. While medieval society viewed artists as servants and craftspeople, Renaissance artists were trained intellectuals, and their art reflected this newfound point of view. Patronage of the arts became an important activity, and commissions included secular subject matter as well as religious.
In painting, the treatment of the elements of perspective and light became of particular concern. He used perspective in order to create a feeling of depth in his paintings. In addition, the use of oil paint had its beginnings in the early part of the 16th century, and its use continued to be explored extensively throughout the High Renaissance.
Some of the first Humanists were great collectors of antique manuscripts, including Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Coluccio Salutati, and Poggio Bracciolini. In Italy, the Humanist educational program won rapid acceptance and, by the midth century, many of the upper classes had received Humanist educations, possibly in addition to traditional scholastic ones.
Some of the highest officials of the church were Humanists with the resources to amass important libraries. Such was Cardinal Basilios Bessarion, a convert to the Latin church from Greek Orthodoxy, who was considered for the papacy and was one of the most learned scholars of his time.
Humanism played a major role in education during the Renaissance, with the goal of cultivating the moral and intellectual character of citizens. During the Renaissance, Humanism played a major role in education.
Humanist marriages are currently legally recognised in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but not England and Wales. Elsewhere, couples having a humanist ceremony must also have a separate civil marriage. We work to change that. Religious education. We work to ensure that such education is critical, objective, and pluralistic.
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