Academic literature on the topic 'Anti-humanism'

Many attacks against the anthropocentric prejudice that nonhuman animals have a slight or impoverished ethical subjecthood are also attacks on the humanistic idea of human moral uniqueness. This essay examines a way of overturning that anthropocentric prejudice by deploying certain conceptual resources of an expansive ethical humanism. Although this may appear to be a strange route to that destination, the suggestion is raised that this approach might significantly enrich our conception of nonhumans as ethical subjects.

Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf (1927) can be regarded as a post-humanist novel for several reasons. It is post-humanist in a temporal sense because it engages with the nineteenth-century humanist legacy from a twentieth-century perspective. The novel’s brazen critique of traditional bourgeois values does not simply reject humanism and its philosophy of individual autonomy. It dislodges idealist concepts of wholeness and self-perfection and replaces them with a multi-perspectival view of a continuously changing human consciousness, an open-ended process toward an ever-elusive self-awareness. The protagonist of Hesse’s novel, Harry Haller, even though still heavily influenced by the humanist tradition, can no longer be viewed as a clearly defined individual personifying the Cartesian dichotomy of body and mind. On the contrary, Hesse’s novel depicts Haller’s gradual disillusionment with this idealist world view by giving a detailed account of the deconstruction of his personality – a personality that, as it turns out, does not consist of a spiritual essence but dissolves into an accumulation of acquired conventions, habits, cultural and philosophical traditions, even specific historical events and constellations. Yet Hesse’s attempt to go beyond a mere negation of humanist values implies transcending the humanist paradigm in many respects, including its form. This essay will focus on the novel’s subversion of the humanist tradition. It discloses how Hesse’s novel undermines universalist philosophical claims, regardless of whether they belong to the idealist or anti-idealist Nietzschean philosophy that heavily influenced both the protagonist and his author. In light of the novel’s dismantling of binary reasoning, foregrounded in the protagonist’s man-animal division, the essay challenges conventional wisdom among critics who regard Hesse’s literary works as traditionalist.

This thesis identifies a family of humanist presuppositions which, I argue, pervade modern Western society and are partly responsible for our inability to escape from a spiral of environmental destruction. For example, humanist ethical theories frequently assume the existence of an objective / subjective divide, autonomous rational individuals and a neutral rationality. I argue that these assumptions, which are peculiar to our society, provide a wholly inappropriate basis for the expression of many environmental concerns. Humanism imposes particular taxonomies and interpretations on social and environmental relations; these facilitate the treatment of nature as a resource rather than as a part of our (ethical) community. At the theoretical level, humanism develops explicit systems of ''formal rationaiity" which purport to be neutral e.g. axiological systems like neoclassical economics and utilitarianism. However, these systems reduce environmental evaluation to the bureaucratic application of abstract methodologies and, far from being neutral, they impose a particular humanist ideology on decision making processes which marginalises those who speak in a different voice. I develop an alternative perspective; a critical theory informed by the antihumanism of Althusser, the later Wittgenstein and Bourdieu. This post-humanist theoretical problematic works in two ways. First, it explains how ideologies interpellate individuals into social structures and reproduce current social values. Second, it advocates an alternative "ecological paradigm", embedded in anti-humanist and radical traditions which would give due regard to the constitutive role of 'nature' in the formation of our moral values.

Perhaps due to its seemingly straightforward religious nature, the Second Nun's Cecelia Legend in The Canterbury Tales is often dismissed by scholars and readers alike. However, through analyzing Chaucer's earlier analogues, it becomes apparent that Chaucer has left out key pieces of the Life of Saint Cecelia. These omissions can be explained as attempts to illustrate the humanistic beliefs of both St. Augustine and Christine de Pizan. Further, the etymology of key words which appear in the "Second Nun's Prologue and Tale" help to reinforce the satire which Chaucer creates. Chaucer has deleted the humanism from the Saint Cecelia Legend in order to illustrate the potential for the corruption of female virtue.

The present study argues that the central notion and practice unifying Edward Said’s oeuvre is that of “secular” criticism, which he conceives of as the defining activity and tool of the humanistic intellectual. We also argue that Said sees the intellectual’s moral mission of “secular” criticism as based in Said’s understanding of “humanism” as intellectual production aimed at concrete change in the real world of human struggles for universal justice and human emancipation from oppression of all types. Related to Said’s particular and perennial upholding of a particular understanding of humanism, Said wields a religious-secular rhetoric as a weapon to expose and question the ironic fact of the “religiosity” of those persons, movements, and ideologies claiming their basis in the unswervingly “secular.” Within the overall body of Said commentary, Said’s effort to recover humanism as a useable praxis of human emancipation from oppressive systems has been largely neglected. This is largely due to the misrecognition of Orientalism as Said’s defining project and the consequent sublation of equally if not more significant, defining elements in the Saidian oeuvre than Orientalism , e.g. “secular” criticism. This study finds that the religious-secular trope conveys Said’s notion of what criticism is and does in a re-constructed humanism, a “humanism of liberation,” as Saree Makdisi has aptly called it, and not, as some commentators have seen it, an expression of a self-contradictory disdain for religion with a concomitant defensive posture toward Islam. In this thesis, Said’s religious-secular rhetoric is analyzed for its meaning, for its role in Said’s idea of criticism, and for its significance in Said’s effort to re-construct humanism as an emancipatory practice. Finally, this study argues that Said’s writing to and on the Arab-Islamic world, and particularly his writing on Palestine-Israel, exemplifies what Said means by the term “secular” criticism. In this sense, Said’s work on the problematic of Palestine-Israel is a synechdoche of his entire critical project. This interpretation is unique in that it challenges the idea that Said’s work on Palestine-Israel is an endeavor outside his professional vocation as a humanist and is motivated merely by Said’s passionate attachment to his homeland. This thesis aims to show how Said’s work on the problematic of Palestine-Israel is not only a model of what Said means by the term “secular criticism,” but avers further that, coupled with Said’s writing to and on the Arab Islamic world, his work on Palestine-Israel represents the most significant labor of his “non-humanist” humanism, or the “humanism of liberation” as a still valid practice, and as an intellectual, ethical framework, and a means of concretely furthering the struggle for universal human emancipation—which Said defines as completely in line with his work as a humanist. In other words, Said’s work on the problematic of Palestine-Israel is not a political side-line apart from his work as a man of letters but is a body of quintessentially humanistic production at the heart of the concept of “secular criticism.” The present study argues that the central notion and practice unifying Edward Said’s oeuvre is that of “secular” criticism, which he conceives of as the defining activity and tool of the humanistic intellectual. We also argue that Said sees the intellectual’s moral mission of “secular” criticism as based in Said’s understanding of “humanism” as intellectual production aimed at concrete change in the real world of human struggles for universal justice and human emancipation from oppression of all types. Related to Said’s particular and perennial upholding of a particular understanding of humanism, Said wields a religious-secular rhetoric as a weapon to expose and question the ironic fact of the “religiosity” of those persons, movements, and ideologies claiming their basis in the unswervingly “secular.” Within the overall body of Said commentary, Said’s effort to recover humanism as a useable praxis of human emancipation from oppressive systems has been largely neglected. This is largely due to the misrecognition of Orientalism as Said’s defining project and the consequent sublation of equally if not more significant, defining elements in the Saidian oeuvre than Orientalism , e.g. “secular” criticism. This study finds that the religious-secular trope conveys Said’s notion of what criticism is and does in a re-constructed humanism, a “humanism of liberation,” as Saree Makdisi has aptly called it, and not, as some commentators have seen it, an expression of a self-contradictory disdain for religion with a concomitant defensive posture toward Islam. In this thesis, Said’s religious-secular rhetoric is analyzed for its meaning, for its role in Said’s idea of criticism, and for its significance in Said’s effort to re-construct humanism as an emancipatory practice. Finally, this study argues that Said’s writing to and on the Arab-Islamic world, and particularly his writing on Palestine-Israel, exemplifies what Said means by the term “secular” criticism. In this sense, Said’s work on the problematic of Palestine-Israel is a synechdoche of his entire critical project. This interpretation is unique in that it challenges the idea that Said’s work on Palestine-Israel is an endeavor outside his professional vocation as a humanist and is motivated merely by Said’s passionate attachment to his homeland. This thesis aims to show how Said’s work on the problematic of Palestine-Israel is not only a model of what Said means by the term “secular criticism,” but avers further that, coupled with Said’s writing to and on the Arab Islamic world, his work on Palestine-Israel represents the most significant labor of his “non-humanist” humanism, or the “humanism of liberation” as a still valid practice, and as an intellectual, ethical framework, and a means of concretely furthering the struggle for universal human emancipation—which Said defines as completely in line with his work as a humanist. In other words, Said’s work on the problematic of Palestine-Israel is not a political side-line apart from his work as a man of letters but is a body of quintessentially humanistic production at the heart of the concept of “secular criticism.” The present study argues that the central notion and practice unifying Edward Said’s oeuvre is that of “secular” criticism, which he conceives of as the defining activity and tool of the humanistic intellectual. We also argue that Said sees the intellectual’s moral mission of “secular” criticism as based in Said’s understanding of “humanism” as intellectual production aimed at concrete change in the real world of human struggles for universal justice and human emancipation from oppression of all types. Related to Said’s particular and perennial upholding of a particular understanding of humanism, Said wields a religious-secular rhetoric as a weapon to expose and question the ironic fact of the “religiosity” of those persons, movements, and ideologies claiming their basis in the unswervingly “secular.” Within the overall body of Said commentary, Said’s effort to recover humanism as a useable praxis of human emancipation from oppressive systems has been largely neglected. This is largely due to the misrecognition of Orientalism as Said’s defining project and the consequent sublation of equally if not more significant, defining elements in the Saidian oeuvre than Orientalism , e.g. “secular” criticism. This study finds that the religious-secular trope conveys Said’s notion of what criticism is and does in a re-constructed humanism, a “humanism of liberation,” as Saree Makdisi has aptly called it, and not, as some commentators have seen it, an expression of a self-contradictory disdain for religion with a concomitant defensive posture toward Islam.

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This work aims to think, from a specific interpretation of what Kaplan and Sprinker termed "the Althusserian legacy", his theoretical system and its objects, the specific relations linking the concepts of ideology, law and subjectivity. Thus, undertakes an analysis of ideology in its theoretical and practical senses, its connections with philosophy, science and politics, to understand that while the category of Subject is banned from the materialist philosophical problematic, it plays a decisive function as a scientific concept of historical materialism. Throughout the pages we discover the connection between the question of knowledge imposed by classical bourgeois philosophy and the categories effectively operating in legal practice; between Marx s early humanism and the theoretical and practical ideologies of Man, which appears always as the couple humanism-economism; and between the constitution of the imaginary function of the subject by the ideological interpellation and the commodity circulation practices. All this is unveiled through the tools of Marxists science and philosophy, exposed in its absolute specificity in the first two chapters, analyzed from the perspective of a chronology of its incorporation within the Althusser's work, which involves a number of aporias and mobilizes reading arrangements whose inspiration is the author himself. It is, therefore, at the end, an attempt to apprehend, from Althusser's developed problematic, its possible outcomes for thinking the juridical field, its historical specificity and the functions that correspond to it in the reproduction of social relations of capitalist production.
O presente trabalho tem por escopo, a partir de uma interpretação específica daquilo que Kaplan e Sprinker denominaram o legado althusseriano , seu sistema teórico e seus objetos, pensar as relações específicas que ligam os conceitos de ideologia, direito e subjetividade. Assim, empreende uma análise da ideologia em seu sentido teórico e prático, suas conexões com a filosofia, a ciência e a política, para compreender que, enquanto a categoria de Sujeito está irremediavelmente banida da problemática filosófica materialista, ela desempenha na qualidade de conceito científico uma função decisiva no dispositivo do materialismo histórico. Ao longo das páginas vamos descobrindo a conexão existente entre a questão do conhecimento imposta pela filosofia burguesa clássica e as categorias efetivamente em operação na prática jurídica; entre o humanismo de juventude de Marx e as ideologias teórica e prática do Homem, que se constituem sempre na forma do par humanismo-economicismo; e entre a constituição da função imaginária do sujeito pela interpelação ideológica e as práticas da circulação mercantil. Tudo isso vai sendo desvendado através dos instrumentos da ciência e da filosofia marxistas expostos em sua absoluta especificidade nos dois primeiros capítulos, analisados sob a ótica de uma cronologia da sua constituição no interior dos trabalhos de Althusser, o que envolve uma série de aporias, e mobiliza expedientes de leitura cuja inspiração é o próprio autor. Tratase, portanto, ao cabo, de uma tentativa de apreender, a partir da problemática althusseriana desenvolvida, seus possíveis desdobramentos para o pensamento do campo jurídico, sua especificidade histórica e as funções que a ele correspondem na reprodução das relações sociais da produção capitalista.

This paper is a case study of the Sweden Democrats with the aim to better understand the nature of the immigrant-critical nationalist parties, often referred to as right-wing extremist, right-wing populist etc. who has had success in several countries, and their ideological roots. A comparative descriptive analysis has been done of the ideas of the Sweden Democrats' ideology, with the aim to identify and examine the presence of fascism ideas in SD's ideology. On the basis of the existing research has an ideal type been formulated what fascism most basic ideas are. With this idealtype as an analytical tool has SD's party platform, political speeches, SD-kuriren and Jimmie Åkesson's book, etc. been analyzed. It has been possible to demonstrate the similarities and differences between the SD's and fascist ideas. Ideas of SD which is also a typical feature of fascism is the opposition to the conduct of immigration policy and to stop or limit immigration which appears as the party's most prominent idea that is also a typical feature of fascism. The myth of the betrayed people's home “Folkhemmet” appears to be a typical "mystical core" in the SD's thinking which is similar to the example stab-in-the-back legend of Nazism. The idea about the third way and a excluding nationalism that sees diversity as a threat is common within fascism while the differences is that the SD profess democracy and denounces anti-democratic ideas. SD is like the fascists not pacifists but has not, moreover, any typical fascist ideas on the war in its program. The multicultural society is considered a threat, which is similar to the ideas of fascism, and SD considers that a culture war is going on, especially with Islam. SD has some ideas in common with fascism that indicates continuity from the interwar fascism. Other ideas differ from the ideas of fascism, which shows that the party has been partly done up with its ideological roots. The type of thought structures identified in the analysis of the Sweden Democrats have several ideas in common with the fascist discourse, but there are also similarities with the humanist Enlightenment discourse in the affirmation of democracy.

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The dissertation aimed to investigate the André Comte-Sponville´s (1952) atheism, recurring as primary reference The Treaty of Despair and Beatitude (t.1,1984; t. 2, 1989). The methodological approach followed the philosophy of religion having as parameters to conceptualise his atheism the humanism in the broad sense and more particular, the one that emerged in the second half of 20th century, or post-modern. The Epicurean materialism is part of his atheist philosophy, it establishes the basis of a structuralist ontology, conceiving the being and everything else (the values, the truth, the love, the justice, the good) as the particles´ movement epiphenomenon, which the philosopher named of upward materialism
O alvo da dissertação foi investigar o ateísmo de André Comte-Sponville (1952) sendo a referência primordial o texto O Tratado do Desespero e da Beatitude (t. 1, 1984; t. 2, 1989). A abordagem metodológica desenvolveu-se pela filosofia da religião tendo como parâmetros para a caracterização do ateísmo sponvilliano o humanismo de modo geral e o anti-humanismo da segunda metade do século XX ou pós-moderno. O materialismo epicurista está presente em sua filosofia ateísta que funda certa ontologia estruturalista, entendendo que o ser e tudo o mais (os valores, a verdade, o amor, a justiça, o bem) são como o homem, epifenômeno do mover de partículas, o que é denominado por ele de materialismo ascendente

This thesis examines the possibilities for feminism that arise from the work of Michel Foucault, which I explicate by comparison it with humanist existentialism. I begin with The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir's application of existentialism to women. I expose the problems that arise in Beauvoir's project. Woman's body is an obstacle to her transcendence, and further, she must abandon her feminine desires and values, and accommodate herself to masculine patterns if she is to overcome her immanence and subordination. To understand why such problems recur in The Second Sex, I turn to Sartre's Being and Nothingness. After examining the conceptions underlying his thought, I conclude that his philosophy is unable to encompass difference, and is therefore antithetical to the feminist project. ¶ Foucault's philosophy offers solutions to these problems by eliminating consciousness as universal subject of action, and by making subjectivity a product of time, through showing how subjects are formed though the changing effects of power upon bodies. His thought encompasses difference at a fundamental level, through understanding human beings as particular 'events' in time. I argue that Foucault's philosophy does not depend fundamentally, as does Sartre's, upon woman as Other. ¶ Foucault shows how our particular historical form of rationality, created within power relations, sets limits on what we can think, be and do. He shows how thought can overcome some of these limits, allowing us to become authors of our own actions. Misunderstandings are common, particularly of his conception of power and its relation to subjectivity. Many commentators demand changes that reinstate the concepts he fundamentally rejects. Others do not see the unity of his philosophy. I show its importance to women's emancipation and to a feminist ethics. ¶ Finally, I compare Foucault's thought with feminism of difference. With the help of Heidegger, I argue that Foucault offers a superior but complementary way to know who we are, through understanding the history of our making. I show how the masculine and the feminine can be reconciled through a reconceptualisation of the relation of sex to time. All told, Foucault is a philosopher of freedom and for him the practice of freedom is an ethics.

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This thesis was developed with the objective of elucidating the factors that has caused the low academic performance in public schools. To make possible this achievement of this job was used to reconstruct the history of education with reference to public school in the municipalities of São Bernardo do Campo, Diadema and São Paulo state; dedicated special attention to curriculum and teaching program between 1930 and 2008. Analyzing the primary and secondary sources, was identified and marked the influence of two meaningful theoretical perspectives on the composition of the curriculum: one the one hand the traditional teaching influenced by many currents of humanism, and others, the New School, influenced pragmatism, more recently the ideas of the New School was revived by constructivism. To be properly exposed the results of this research and analysis developed the thesis has been separated into five chapters that is concerned with the exhibition of historical facts and analysis the documents founded relative to the current model of education and education policy accomplish between the decade of 1930 and 1990, and to expose the theoretical analysis for the ideal that guided reforms in educational policy in the period portrayed analysis of philosophical principles of pragmatism and constructivism and the facility of taking a critical parameter as the basis of humanism and purpose of new positivism. In conclusion it was emphasized the predominance of pragmatist ideal in education policy under slopingly the pedagogy sphere and reflect professional development in prejudice of scientific, cultural and humanistic development, as a cause of low quality of education.
Esta tese foi desenvolvida com o objetivo de identificar os fatores que têm provocado o baixo rendimento escolar nas escolas públicas. Para tornar possível a realização desta tarefa, recorreu-se à reconstituição da história da educação, tomando-se como referência a rede pública de ensino dos municípios de São Bernardo do Campo e Diadema e do estado de São Paulo, dedicando atenção especial ao currículo e aos programas de ensino entre 1930 e 2008. Ao se analisar as fontes primárias e secundárias, verificou-se a influência bem marcante de duas correntes teóricas na composição do currículo: de um lado, o ensino tradicional, influenciado pelas diversas correntes do humanismo, e de outro, a Escola Nova, influenciada pelo pragmatismo. Mais recentemente, o ideário desta última foi revigorado pelo construtivismo. Para serem expostos adequadamente os resultados desta pesquisa e análises desenvolvidas, a tese está dividida em cinco capítulos, nos quais realizamos a exposição dos fatos históricos e análise dos documentos encontrados, referentes ao atual modelo de educação e às políticas educacionais realizadas entre as décadas de 1930 e 1990. Além disso, também realizamos análises teóricas referentes ao ideário que norteou as reformas nas políticas educacionais no período retratado análise dos pressupostos pragmatismo e do construtivismo e desenvolvemos uma reflexão crítica tomando como parâmetro as bases do humanismo e os propósitos do neopositivismo. Na conclusão foi ressaltada a predominância do ideário pragmatista nas políticas educacionais, sob o viés da pedagogia das competências e da formação do profissional reflexivo, em detrimento da formação científica, cultural e humanística, como uma causa da baixa qualidade do ensino.

This thesis examines the possibilities for feminism that arise from the work of Michel Foucault, which I explicate by comparison it with humanist existentialism. I begin with The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir's application of existentialism to women. I expose the problems that arise in Beauvoir's project. Woman's body is an obstacle to her transcendence, and further, she must abandon her feminine desires and values, and accommodate herself to masculine patterns if she is to overcome her immanence and subordination. To understand why such problems recur in The Second Sex, I turn to Sartre's Being and Nothingness. After examining the conceptions underlying his thought, I conclude that his philosophy is unable to encompass difference, and is therefore antithetical to the feminist project. ¶ Foucault's philosophy offers solutions to these problems by eliminating consciousness as universal subject of action, and by making subjectivity a product of time, through showing how subjects are formed though the changing effects of power upon bodies. His thought encompasses difference at a fundamental level, through understanding human beings as particular 'events' in time. I argue that Foucault's philosophy does not depend fundamentally, as does Sartre's, upon woman as Other. ¶ Foucault shows how our particular historical form of rationality, created within power relations, sets limits on what we can think, be and do. He shows how thought can overcome some of these limits, allowing us to become authors of our own actions. Misunderstandings are common, particularly of his conception of power and its relation to subjectivity. Many commentators demand changes that reinstate the concepts he fundamentally rejects. Others do not see the unity of his philosophy. I show its importance to women's emancipation and to a feminist ethics. ¶ Finally, I compare Foucault's thought with feminism of difference. With the help of Heidegger, I argue that Foucault offers a superior but complementary way to know who we are, through understanding the history of our making. I show how the masculine and the feminine can be reconciled through a reconceptualisation of the relation of sex to time. All told, Foucault is a philosopher of freedom and for him the practice of freedom is an ethics

This study in philosophical-theology investigates the problems and prospects of theological non-realism, as proposed and developed by the Cambridge philosopher of religion Don Cupitt. After contextualising non-realism within the worldview, epistemology and theology of pre-modernity, modernity and postmodernity, the study appraises the prospects of non-realism as a new philosophical and theologica default position for Christianity and how it relates to what has been referred to as the New Reformation. The study hypothesises and contends that, although radical in orientation and multifarious in prospect, it is a viable and valid basis for Christian reformation. After contextualising, considering some religious and theological content, as well as critique and contrapuntal positions, the study delineates theoretical and practical reformatory options. By and large concurring with Cupitt, the study also deviates from him, particularly with respect to the prospect of ecclesiastical post-Christianity. Although this is not a study in practical theology, this study nevertheless aims to move the debate about the New Reformation forward by proposing non-realism as a basis for a new Church
Biblical and Ancient Studies
Thesis (D. Th. (Religious Studies))