Humanism: Comprehensive Reflection

Author: Editorial Department of Sanlian Bookstore and others
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-01-01
Features: The existence of Humanities is to provide a proper understanding for the humanities, including the social sciences. This journal offers more space for academia with a new layout, challenging unexamined assumptions and placing the humanities on a more promising path. Excerpt: For Renan, the most significant event in the history of modern thought was undoubtedly the Copernican astronomical theory of the 16th century replacing the ancient anthropocentric view. The emergence of the new astronomy gave humanity the first sense of the infinite space and time; in other words, it placed the feeling of material infinity before humankind, which would have led to fewer misunderstandings. Such a shock of material infinity can be found in Pascal, but not in medieval writers like Dante. Humanity no longer saw the Earth as the center of the universe or humans as the center of the world; rather, humans drifted in an infinite space. Immersed in infinity, people found it increasingly difficult to assert their inherent superiority; they no longer saw themselves as emperors in another empire but rather as parts of a whole. After losing their supernatural privileges, this new sense of the "one" of nature and the nature of humans also brought comfort to humanity. On the sentimental side, as Wordsworth put it, the "wise submission" brought comfort to humanity; on the scientific side, as Bacon said, the hope of dominion comforted humanity, as he sought to conquer nature by submitting to it.