Approaching Humankind

Towards an Intercultural Humanism

Jörn Rüsen, Sorin Antohi, Chun-chieh Huang, Jörn Rüsen

• Publisher: V&R Unipress
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9783847100584
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9783847000587
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Science General
• Index: Biological Sciences

Every human life form encapsulates an idea of humankind and humanity. Today, this very idea is challenged by the various and diverging needs for cultural orientation in the age of globalization. One of the recent attempts to meet these challenges is provided by a new humanism with an intercultural intent. Such humanism can be conceptualized only by the collaborative efforts of different academic disciplines at exploring the human being as the gist of what is meant by humanity. Thus, this volume explores the pertinent fields of knowledge from the perspectives of philosophy, theology, anthropology, sociology, economy, psychology, neurobiology, history, and gender studies. Focusing on the guiding question of what is meant by being a human, the contributions of this volume encompass a fascinating spectrum of insights, which will orientate future discussions on humanity and humanism.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Body
• Preface
• Jörn Rüsen: Introduction: Enquiring about Mankind
• I. Foundations
• Gerald Hüther: Neurobiological Approaches to a Better Understanding of Human Nature and Human Values
• Christoph Antweiler: Pan-cultural Universals – a Foundation for an Inclusive Humanism
• Georg W. Oesterdiekhoff: Man on the Way Towards Intellectual Growth and Humanity – Anthropological Foundations of History and Social Change
• II. Cultural Manifestations
• Hubert Cancik: Europe – Antiquity – Humanism
• Heiner Roetz: Confucian Humanism
• Umesh C. Chattopadhyaya: Indian Humanism
• Jörn Rüsen: Classical Humanism – a Historical Survey
• Oliver Kozlarek: Man and World in Latin American Humanism
• III. Current Issues
• Günter Dux: Humanism and Its Interpretation in Secular Modernity – The Responsibility of Politics for Enabling a Humane Form of Life
• Ilse Lenz: Differences of Humanity from the Perspective of Gender Research
• Jürgen Straub: Personal Identity: A Concept in Humanist Tradition?
• Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer: Chances for a Global Humanism in the Conflict of Cultures
• Notes on Contributors
• Bibliography