As I was reading Mirandola's Manifesto on Humanism, I was struck with the difference between the Humanism of now and then. Today, many humanists disregard or distance themselves from any faith or belief in God. In contrast, Mirandola espouses a different idea for man's role. I cite:
God the Father, Supreme Architect of the Universe, built this home, this universe we see all around us, a venerable temple of his godhead, through the sublime laws of his ineffable Mind. The expanse above the heavens he decorated with Intelligences, the spheres of heaven with living, eternal souls. The scabrous and dirty lower worlds he filled with animals of every kind. However, when the work was finished, the Great Artisan desired that there be some creature to think on the plan of his great work, and love its infinite beauty, and stand in awe at its immenseness.
God created man so that he may look upon his universe and find out about this "venerable temple of his godhead." How then, does this idea of humanism work out for our class journey? Just like God's creations, we have this wonderful digital universe, full of good and evil. And we should think about the beauty surrounding us today. There is so much that man can use, if we're willing to contemplate our ability to create.
Interesting application to our class. Is there an opposing modern humanist perspective to your analogy of the wonderful digital universe? Is there something analogous to God in our digital world?
ReplyDeleteI think in our class journey, humanism works out as we come together to share knowledge, experiences, and talk about our discoveries. As we exchange information we help each other to grow and are able to appreciate each other. This class also allows us to become humanists as we study classical art, literature, and philosophy.
ReplyDeleteHumanists studied the classics.
As we study the classics and discuss them we become humanists and will be better able to relate to the world around us because have a common level of knowledge or experience with these classics.