Humanism By Anthony B. Pinn Analysis

Humanism is a very interesting topic. The word human is easy to describe as a breathing living multicellular organism. Although the term humanism may not be easy to describe. At least not so quickly in one sentence. Humanism was a way of thinking and interacting within a society. As Anthony B. Pinn described in his book “What is humanism and Why does it Matter?” humanism was a way of life for many. More importantly the time period humanism began to thrive was in the 1400s during the Renaissance. Generally speaking, many scholars have said that humanism began in Europe and later on thrived in Italy. Pinn gives a more detailed definition of humanism, “Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity. The life-stance of humanism – guided by reason, inspired by compassion and informed by experience-encourages us to live life well and fully. It evolved through the ages and continues to develop through the efforts of thoughtful people who recognize that values and ideals, however carefully wrought, are subject to change as our knowledge and understandings advance” (Pinn 7). The key detail within Pinn’s definition is the progressive ideologies that form within humanism. More importantly humanism detest supernaturalism or more specifically religion revolving around gods or deities. Humanism sees that religion may backtrack the progress that humans have made, whether that is
Universal humanism whether it collides with religion or not, created a revolutionary movement. Not only did it promote a new way of thinking, innovations and social developments happened throughout Europe. Without humanism and its detest against supernaturalism, what would have been the anchor to keep us planted with