Pluralizing Humanism

Pluralizing Humanism


Whenever we confront dehumanization in today’s world, we appeal to humanism. But does humanism still have a future in the twenty-first century? Slavica Jakelić’s Pluralizing Humanism answers in the affirmative, but on one condition: humanism must be pluralized. The author does not stop at critique. Drawing together theoretical, historical, and sociological insights, she engages theories of religion and secularism as well as postmodern, postcolonial, and decolonial objections to Western humanist projects. She asks how religious and secular humanisms think and act when they resist dehumanization, and seeks the answer in two historical cases from the 1980s: the Solidarity movement in Poland and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. In both cases, the struggle for freedom was carried not by one humanism but by many. Their encounter gave rise to unexpected alliances between religious and secular actors, solidarities that transformed the political landscape of the modern world. The book enters closely into the moral and metaphysical worlds of these actors and soberly weighs the strengths and weaknesses of humanisms aware of their own limits. It also shows how different humanisms restrained one another’s pull toward the absolute. In doing so, it challenges critiques that reduce humanism to a Western legacy, an anti-religious discourse, or merely a matter of power and domination. Humanist ideals, the author argues, can guide human power precisely because they cannot be reduced to it. From this follows her proposal: in an age of deeply divided societies and violent nationalisms, she sees the way forward in dialogue and cooperation among diverse humanisms around shared goals, taking pluralism as the starting point. Interdisciplinary, theoretically bold, and grounded in careful research, this book is intended for all those working in the social sciences, social theory, religious studies, and ethics. It is equally valuable for readers interested in religion, secularism, and social movements, and for all who, despite divisions, work for the common good.

***

First, there is no single humanism. As an intellectual and practical concern with what it means to be human, humanism exists only in the plural, and every humanist perspective has its own historical complexity and cultural particularity, its own aspirations and limits. Second, part of this plurality is the existence of both religious and secular foundations for humanist ideas and practices, and the potential that arises from their differences. For religious and secular humanists can successfully respond to the complex and dehumanizing challenges of our time only if they enter into dialogue with one another and act together. It is precisely plurality and solidarity, as the foundations for realizing humanist ideals, that could, I believe, give humanisms the true measure they need for the twenty-first century.

(Excerpt from the book)

  • Year of the edition: 2026
  • Cover: paperback
  • Original title: Pluralizing Humanism: Religions and Secularisms Beyond Power
  • Original language: English
  • Translation: Marko Maras