Humanism is a system of thought that defines a socio-political doctrine ("-ism") whose bounds exceed those of locally developed cultures, to include all of humanity and all issues common to human beings. Because doctrines of cultural distinction and exclusivity are often phrased in terms of religion, secular humanism grew as an answer to the need for a common philosophy that transcended the cultural boundaries of local moral codes and religions. Many humanists are religious, however, and see humanism as simply a mature expression of a common truth present in most religions.
Renaissance humanism was the cultural movement in Europe beginning in central Italy in the late 14th century, that revived and refined the language (in particular the Greek language), science, philosophy, art and poetry of classical antiquity. As in "Renaissance humanism", modern humanism is characterized by an attitude and way of life centered on human interests or values, stressing an individual's dignity and worth and capacity for self-realization through reason and logic, assessed by a logical critical approach and other human skills.
Among the humanists neo-Platonic thought once more assumed central importance, from which Aristotelianism had displaced it in the 12th century. Because the writings of Antiquity were translated by Renaissance scholars, they and those who agree with them are sometimes called humanists. Medieval values such as humility, introspection, and passivity were replaced among the aristocracy by an emphasis on a nobility of spirit and action called virtu. Humanists encouraged leaders to cultivate generous and altruistic actions in order to gather the esteem of fellow men. Beauty was held to represent a deeper inner virtue and value.
Finally, the word is sometimes, but probably incorrectly, used either to describe humanities scholars (particularly classicists) or as a synonym for "humanitarianism".
Modern humanism depends on reason and logic and rejects supernaturalism, but some religious people consider themselves humanists because their religious beliefs are moral, and therefore humane.
Secular humanism is distinguished from the broader category of humanism in that the secularhumanist prefers free inquiry over dogmatic wisdom—upholding the scientific method for inquiry, while rejecting revealed knowledge and theistic morality, though not necessarily faith.
The largest humanist organisation in the world (relative to population) is Norway's Human-Etisk Forbund [1], which had over 69,000 members out of a population of around 4.6 million in 2004 [2], though this is partly attributable to a unique set of Church-State relations.
By the 1970s the term was embraced by humanists who, although critical of religion in its various guises, were deliberately non-religious, as opposed to anti-religious, which means that it has nothing to do with spiritual, religious, or ecclesiastical doctrines, beliefs, or power structures.
Many early doctrines calling themselves "humanist", were based on Protagoras's famous claim that "man is the measure of all things." In context, this asserted that people are the ultimate determiners of value and morality— not objective or absolutist codices.
Renaissance humanists believed that the liberalarts (art, grammar, rhetoric, oratory, history, poetry, using classical texts, and the studies of all of the above) should be practiced by all levels of "rich-ness".
Other types of people that may be considered "religious humanists" are those who, despite believing in an organized religion, don't consider it necessary to derive all their moral values from that religion.
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