How to recognize humanist people? There are numerous criteria, but let’s stick to the Renaissance definition. You are humanist when:
- You often refer to Greek philosophers (Pythagore, Aristote, Platon etc.) and your ideas are built upon deduction and logic, concrete facts.
- You are knowledge-thirsty (sociology, biology, astrophysics etc.) and hold many kinds of backgrounds…
- You are fond of philology (history of words and language etc.) including as “a study of all appearances of the human mind in space and time”, without false interpretations.
- You are interested in all the human creative capacities and respect their value as variable expressions of the reality.
- You consider that it is not possible to have an opinion on something unless you cross it with other ideas, connected or not to the first.
- You know human value is not linked to social class or academic distinctions: everyone can teach you something.
- You valorize popularization of every knowledge, even the most technical or esoteric (philosophy, religion, symbolism, meaning of life etc.).
- You think that instruction opens the door to real freedom, that fear and aggressiveness are due to ignorance and that peace is based on knowledge.
- You fight for dignity, respect and rights for everyone, even if to leads you to confront a system opposed to your ethics.
- Your whole life is dedicated to finding the truth, sharing wisdom and improving yourself as a human being.