(March 19, 2022 at 9:49 am)Angrboda Wrote: What's the relationship between existentialism and Humanism? Are they different, or is Humanism in a sense a follow-up to existentialism?
I think there's a certain amount of overlap. Jean-Paul Sartre even published an introductory volume about existentialism with the title Existentialism Is a Humanism.
It goes without saying that human experience is derived by human modes of cognition, perception, language use and culture. I think humanists and existentialists alike would agree that we should define morality and the social order in human terms rather than according to traditional religious precepts.
Where they diverge is the existentialist is unlikely to share the humanist's optimism toward things like reason and scientific progress. The existentialists hold that there's an irrational core to human existence and the question of meaning, and that anything that objectifies the human being and systematizes human society should be viewed with skepticism.
