[lit-ideas] Humanism as a Social Construction
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2007 19:38:33 EST
-- Now, I would also think, inspired by comments by Wager, that it may be
possible to see Humanism as a 'social construction', i.e. as a rather
artificial
philosophy that started in the Renaissance.
In that sense, 'Analytic Philosophy' would _not_ be humanist. Why, I've
studied analytic philosophy for some time (I have hardly studied anything else)
and we _never_ did study the concept 'man'. [Although I did have a course
called "Philosophical Anthropology" where the tutor, a German, was into
anti-humanism, "Die Mensch" in the anthropobiological sense that he saw
humanity as a
_disease_.
On the other hand, in later writings, H. P. Grice, the epitome of analytic
philosophy, became a sort of humanist, when he would say that while the concept
'man' is extensional, the concept 'human' is INTENSIONAL. There is a
transcendental gap between one class and the other, made by axiological means.
That
while it would not be immoral to kill _men_, it would be immoral to kill
_humans_.
Cheers,
JL
Buenos Aires, Argentina
author of "Self-Made Man: The Historical Origins of Humanism"
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