Classical Humanism In Ancient Greece

Humanism is a doctrine, attitude, or way of life that is centered on human interests or values and stresses an individual's dignity and worth and capacity for self-realization through reason. It was first developed in ancient Greece and Rome. It is no coincidence that many of our legal codes go back to Rome and many scientific and technical terms and ideas back to ancient Greece. But Greece in particular has influenced philosophy, which celebrates reason. We use the term Classical Humanism to refer to the humanism of this early period. In order to know what humanism is one must look at its history. Although the term "humanism" was not applied to a philosophy or belief system until the European Renaissance, those early humanists were inspired
For example, the famous Funeral Oration delivered by Pericles in 431 BCE as a tribute to those who died during the first year of Peloponnesian War makes no mention of gods or souls or an afterlife. Instead, Pericles emphasizes that those who were killed did so for the sake of Athens and that they would live on in the memories of its citizens.
Greek artists were the first to establish mimesis (imitation of nature) as a guiding principle for art, even as Greek philosophers debated the intellectual value of this approach. The repeated depiction of the nude human figure in Greek art reflects Greek humanism—a belief that 'Man is the measure of all things,' in the words of Greek
After the fall of the original humanistic empires that birthed the original ideas of humanism, humanism seemed to be set aside and was lost in the wake of time to rebirth itself though the renaissance and went through a lot of molding and took many different directions such as: Naturalistic Humanism, Scientific Humanism, Ethical Humanism and Democratic Humanism As a philosophy, Modern Humanism is typically naturalistic, eschewing belief in anything supernatural and relying upon the scientific method for determining what does and does not
Secular humanism is a humanist philosophy that upholds reason, ethics, and justice and specifically rejects rituals and ceremonies as a means to affirm a life stance. The term was coined in the 20th century to make a clear distinction from "religious humanism". A perhaps less confrontational synonym is scientific humanism, which the biologist Edward O. Wilson claimed to be "the only worldview compatible with science's growing knowledge of the real world and the laws of nature".
Secular humanism describes a world view with conviction that dogmas, ideologies and traditions, whether religious, political or social, must be weighed and tested by each individual and not simply accepted on faith. Commitment to the use of critical reason, factual evidence, and scientific methods of inquiry, rather than faith and mysticism, in seeking solutions to human problems and answers to important human questions and a primary concern with fulfillment, growth, and creativity for both the individual and humankind in