Humanitism
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Humanitism is a philosophy born in academic circles from efforts in dialogue & universalism and in the minds of the populus at the close of the 2nd Millennium CE rather than one that can be ascribed to any one individual. The philosophy may be summed up in the phrase "Through Humanity. With Humanity. For Humanity." which covers its three levels the governing principle summed up in "For Humanity". The continuing survival & perpetuation of Humanity is the main idea. To prevent the idea being nothing more than hot air, it is agreed that only someone who manifests the child of humanity in themselves and brings it out in others through everything they do and say is considered a true humanitist. Hence it is possible to promote humanitism without being a humanitist, thereby uniting the conclusions of scholars from very diverse traditions in the desired target.
For the micro level Respecting Humanity refers to respect of any individual as a Human being with Human dignity. Any sentient being with feelings is deserving of opportunity to be understood. The stress on an individual's dignity and worth and capacity for self-realization is visible in the Humanist ethos. However this is only the groundwork believed necessary for the ultimate objective of perpetuating meaningful survival. It is recognised that satisfying to the will of the people will not necessarily result in the good of the people, and since only the imposition of the will of the majority is considered acceptable, the first step to humanity's survival can only be the evolution of sound realization individually in the hearts & minds of the majority. An individual's Humanity cannot exist in isolation from Humanity and as such is inviolable and sacred, violating the Humanity of an individual is thus a crime against all Humanity. Mutual support in the journey to self discovery and the role of the individual as an integral part of Humanity is implied which leads into the medium level.
The Medi level is concerned with the interaction between members of the species. The ideal is that there is no need for human coordinators if members of society work in harmony with each other according to Humanitist principles along the lines of a basic recorded organizational blueprint. Fundamentally this is Social Solidarity but as when acting as an individual, one must also always act with Humanity as understood by Humanity in the group. Interaction should always be carried out with Humanity. Humanity is not understood as the standard behaviour of the Human species (indeed Humans commonly act without Humanity in many instances) but is used to refer to the ideal behaviour the Human should seek to attain and encourage others in as all those noble qualities Humans have discovered which set us aside from other animals. As with the micro level the interpretation of Humanity is balanced with the other two levels. It is believed this kind of behaviour is mathematically the most efficient way of ensuring the success fo the species.
Humans should act with Humanity for the long-term good of Humanity in favour of pursuing Human desires which run contrary to this ideal. What is good for Humanity in the long-term is more important than the will or desires of any majority group especially in the short-term. This governing principle indicates that living with others involves a degree of personal sacrifice if Humanity is to survive without being violated by the accession of any one privileged group at the expense of all others. Even if this were to occur without undesirable consequences (a mathematical improbability) such a group would have to adopt Humanitist principles for themselves if they were to maintain Human Dignity for their own elite group. Its inevitability is thought by social engineers to be expressible in a mathematical model.
Whether it will survive the test of time or not is yet to be seen.
[edit] Relationship with Humanism
Not to be confused with Humanism, it is often spoken of as an ideal by which to regulate policy instead of capitalism. Like Humanism, the application of Humanitism requires logic & reasoning, and certainly the importance of Human dignity is from Humanists. Humanitist philosophy differs in that it permits mytho-poetic & metaphysical discussion since mythopoetism is an aspect of Humanity. Secular Humanism is seen as a nore defined sect of Religious Humanism both accused of complicating a very simple issue of survival in that the long-term good of Humanity must outweigh the short-term will of Humanity if it runs contrary to this. The philosophy is motivated by the preservation & perpetuation of Humanity as the most important goal any individual can apply their life efforts towards. Like New Humanism it has a neo-Marxism side in that it is supposed a Utopian system of Social Solidarity will emerge from trying to uphold Humanitism as society's "prime directive". Likewise its affinity with transhumanism is thus apparent.
[edit] External links
- Dialogue & Universalism
- Transhumanism and Unitarian Universalism