Humanism Vs Transhumanism

The transcendentalists believed in individualism, equality, and optimism for the future, creating a time period where literature and arts prospered. With a Utopian society in mind, the reform for education, women’s rights, and slavery was put into motion. Over 150 years ago, Emerson and Thoreau wrote individual pieces displaying key transcendental beliefs. As with many works at the time, these papers still hold relevance to the 21st century and can be applied to modern citizens, such as Elizabeth Gilbert.

In modern television shows today one can see how many shows have one or more philosophical meaning in the show. Whether is be humanism, dualism, or rationalism one can find them intergraded in by the way the characters think or act. Humanism is when one puts all the importance on a person rather than in a god or a supernatural figure. A humanist is someone who only thinks about themselves and what would be best for them.An example of a television show that has many humanism characteristics in it is Grey’s Anatomy. The show accomplishes this by characters thoughts, actions, and through their desires. Grey’s Anatomy. Grey’s Anatomy was written by Shonda Rhimes in 2005 and is still producing episodes today. Grey’s Anatomy is a fictional soap opera about medical students that turn into residents and later into doctors and their life and the struggles they go through with falling in love with each other and other employees.

The word humanity refers to the human race as a whole and the qualities that make us human, such as the ability to love and have compassion. In our modern world, we take human nature for granted, but in George Orwell’s 1984, he shows us a society in which there is no humanity, and those that fight for it die trying. The totalitarian government, known as the Party, uses isolation, fear, and lies to destroy the humanity in their citizens and maintain absolute power over Oceania. The novel describes the journey of Winston Smith as he rebels against the Party and tries to maintain his human qualities. By creating a totalitarian government in the novel 1984, George Orwell is able to express how important humanity is to not only Winston but also

There are many paradigms in psychology such as structuralism, cognitive, psychoanalysis, behaviorism which is the most common and of course humanistic psychology. These were very important to psychologists, it helped understand and identify different aspects of life. From the way one behaves to the way they think, see and hear. The way we feel and act turns out to be a big part of our mind. We think and do certain things for what reason? Humanistic psychology was found to describe and help everyone understand why we behave and sometimes need certain things. We all share characteristics such as love, grief, happiness, caring, self-love. There was a reason why we felt these certain emotions,

The dictionary defines humanity as followed: “the human race; human beings collectively”, but it is what humanity connotes that really makes a human human. Being a human does not make one humane; it is having values, ethics, and culture that does. Humans are a complex species with ethical and logical thinking along with compassion for other creatures and things. It is the nature of humans that has allowed great development of our society within the short amount of time people have inhabited Earth. So if these traits and characteristics are what provides humans with their superiority and strive, what happens when it dissolves. The novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury conceptualizes the loss of humanity in a society

William Shakespeare was an actor, poet, and playwright, but he did so much more than that. He changed psychology, the english language, theater, writing, and created thousands of words we still use today. William Shakespeare wrote and acted in his plays during the Renaissance, which was a time from the 1300s until the 1600s when ideas of society changed. During the Renaissance, a new concept started to form that changed society which was humanism. Humanism is the concept of being realistic, finding logical explanations to problems and questions, and the belief in people’s individuality. Another change that was different about the Renaissance is that everyone was focused on leaving a legacy. They lived to be remembered and wanted to do something that would leave a lasting impression on the world and the people in it. A

Ayn Rand states that “Nothing can corrupt and disintegrate a culture or a man’s character as thoroughly as does the precept of moral agnosticism” (Rand). It is the thought that “one must never pass moral judgement on others,” (Rand) and that “good consists of never distinguishing good from evil,” (Rand) that led to the worship of the word “we”. Equality understands that “The worship of the word ‘we’,” (102) is what caused men to fall “lower than his savage beginnings” (102). By failing to distinguish good from evil, wise from fools, and strong from the weak, human beings are falsely perceived as equals. As people fail to differentiate between one another, individualism is lost, and the word “we” becomes their master. When joy can be reached by the unclean, wisdom can be controlled by fools, and the impotent can become masters, the talented and hardworking will have no reason to contribute, and thus begins the downfall of humanity. Both Ayn Rand’s and Equality’s views describe a different stage in this collapse of civilization. Both support the belief that individualism and differentiation, rather than grouping all humans together, are the path that will bring forth greatness for deserving

Imagine coming across an opinion article about the surge of medical technology in a newspaper, only to discover that the article is permeated with theoretical concepts such as eugenics, Singularity, cyberculture, and more! You notice that the author presents evidence from as far back as the beginning of human society. You barely remember events from three months ago; how are you expected to reason through complex arguments such as these? Clearly, the author should have written a more informal article to present their opinion and provide basic knowledge. James Hughes does just that. From “The Politics of Transhumanism and the Techno-Millennial Imagination, 1626-2030” and “The Human Condition Hurts: We’d Be Fools Not to Better It”, the readers

The Transcendentalism movement was a time where people wanted to be free of rules out in nature and just be an individual. The two men who led this movement were, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. In today’s society Transcendentalism isn’t seen abundantly throughout the average city. Emerson and Thoreau did not like the government and wanted to be free of its laws and regulations, but they loved nature and individualism and they wanted everyone to be “one” with nature while being their true self. In modern society today that can be tough. If the two men lived in society today they would be appalled by the government and it regulations and how nature has become less of a priority, but they would be satisfied with the individualism

A transcendentalist society seems like it would be perfect in this world. With all the hatred and judgment in the world, it seems like a transcendentalist society would help people throughout the world. Though the goal of a transcendentalist society might be impossible in today’s world. People for the most part have free will, so one cannot force another to be accepting and do not judge people. Also, the outside world and media are both very judgmental, and would have a great effect on how people feel about others. In a society where every person is encouraged to have their own ideas and belief system, important decisions of the community might never be made, because people might not be able to agree. The idea of a transcendentalist society seems perfect and just what the world needs, it would never survive because one

As the “gaseous dust and debris” of the social world slowly fades away, mankind is left standing in horror, not from the utter destruction, but from the methodical, unyielding takeover of technology over its body, mind, and essence (Kroker 15). In his 2014 essay, Exits to the Posthuman Future, Arthur Kroker proposes how humans are slowing succumbing physically and metaphysically to the data-driven world that is gaining momentum from the exponential growth of technological advancement. In actuality, Kroker’s inability to clarify the boundary and distinction of the corporeal human leads to horological uncertainty concerning the posthuman future.

Transcendentalists preach that each person should do what they believe is right, or what their conscience believes is right. Thoreau asks, “Can there not be a government in which majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience?—in which majorities decide only those questions to which the rule of expediency is applicable?” (566). The government laws are not always fair. Thoreau questions whether we should follow the unjust laws and fall into the

Christian Humanism and Humanism shared the aspect of education through the deciphering of classical texts. Christian humanism sought more clarity on the biblical texts through the study of ancient languages, obtaining ‘new-found accuracy and enthusiasm’. It required an understanding of Hebrew to read the Old testament; to read the New testament required Greek. Through the rediscovery and revival of the Bible, Christian humanists were able to challenge religious assumptions of the time with more clarity and able to pose new interpretations. Many Christian humanists sought to educate society at large. The most famous Christian humanist, Erasmus wrote to a friend that being an educator was only second to being a king, to instill into the citizens from the beginning “sound learning and Christ himself, and to return them

Humanism is the study of the human and its moral and ethical dimensions. (Sayre) Humanism played a large part in how Greek artists expressed the human form in a way never before seen through free standing sculptures. Two of these particular sculptures were the Kritios Boy and Diskobolos. All though the Kritios Boy and Diskobolos were made at two different time periods, both helped influenced future free standing sculptures.

According to Max Moore, Moore defines transhumanism as; “A class of philosophies of life that seek the continuation and acceleration of the evolution of intelligent life beyond its currently human form and human limitations by means of science and technology, guided by life-promoting principles and values.” With this being said, the world of science is going to increase human’s quality of life dramatically. The whole scope of this new way of thinking has sprouted from the idea that humans can achieve super health, super intelligence and super abilities. The main difference between humanists and transhumanists is the idea that though humans, may not be perfect they can still advocate their god given rights and abilities to make this world a better place. The transhumanist will agree up to a point with the humanist way of thinking, but strongly campaigns for the idea of what we can become and how we can work within