A Review of the Concept of Humanology in Western Philosophy
Philosophy refers to the way of thinking and using the intellect to discover the laws governing the universe. The history of philosophy is as long as human history. Generally, philosophy deals with questions that have occupied the human mind since the beginning of creation and are raised again with the birth of every child. In a broad sense, philosophy is the knowledge that we are all engaged in because all of us are in search of an answer to our fundamental questions.
- Do humans have a spirit, or is their identity solely tied to their body?
- What is death?
- What is waiting for us after death?
These are the questions that many philosophers and thinkers have tried to find a convincing answer to, and this very effort has led to the emergence of various philosophical schools of thought. Followers of each school have a specific answer to each of these questions. By relying on these answers, they offer a specific definition of the universe, life, and human beings.
The Course Taken by Western Humanology
Humanology can be broadly divided into two parts: Western humanology and Islamic humanology. In this article, we will provide a general overview of Western humanology, and we will explain Islamic humanology in detail in another article.
Human beings have always been trying to find a meaning for life and discover the nature of their existence. This quest has had many ups and downs from ancient times to the present day. In various historical periods, philosophers have focused their views on specific questions, and as a result, various philosophical schools of thought have emerged.
After the Middle Ages, with the weakening of Church principles and doubting the Aristotelian philosophical principles, philosophy took a separate path from Christianity and Aristotelian intellect in the West. Around the 14th and 15th centuries AD, a way of thinking emerged; its followers considered all metaphysical realities to be an illusion, and they turned towards experience.
Figures like William of Ockham introduced some viewpoints that were based on the primacy of sense and experience.[1] Later, philosophers such as Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes emphasized them in the following centuries. By relying on empiricism, David Hume started questioning supernatural matters and the truths of natural events,[2] and thus Western humanology entered a new phase of skepticism.
The philosophy that initially claimed that humans must look for the basis of their knowledge within themselves (Descartes), ultimately, doubted everything and did not lead anywhere. Instead of focusing on the meaning and purpose of life and finding them, philosophy became a tool for the formation of various intellectual schools of thought and different political theories.
These schools of thought failed to provide an acceptable answer to the questions they raised; we are now witnessing their decline and fall after years of dominating people’s minds around the world. They declined mainly because their answers were uncertain, or they were proved ineffective after being tested and experienced. In addition, in recent times, Western humanology has abandoned the fundamental and intellectual questions of human beings. It has focused more than anything else on political philosophy and defining the desired political system. For a general introduction to various philosophical schools of thought, you can refer to the article “The History of Epistemology in the West.”
The Problems Faced by Philosophical Humanology
Philosophical humanology faces two major challenges. First, the human intellect is limited. Second, philosophers sometimes use experimental achievements of humanology to prove their own views, while as discussed in the article “An Examination of Experimental or Scientific Humanology,” experimental humanology has many flaws.
Experimental humanology views us as natural beings and ignores other dimensions of our existence. As a result, this way of thinking is generally ineffective in dealing with issues that cannot be measured. It is possible to gain knowledge about the physical dimensions of human beings through experimental methods. But since experimental sciences have no way of understanding our non-material dimensions, they cannot give us a comprehensive understanding of human beings.
The Limitations of the Human Intellect
The human intellect, as the primary tool of philosophy, has some limitations. In fact, the intellect acts as a tool for acquiring knowledge and information based on the data we give to it. It does not have any built-in content. It is like a hunting camera that helps to better see distant images but does not record or store images within itself. The information we receive is like raw material for thinking and reasoning, so this information plays a fundamental role in the judgments made by the intellect. In fact, the intellect requires accurate, comprehensive, and complete information that is available to it without any barrier.
The Factors that Limit the Human Intellect
If the information available to the human intellect is correct but incomplete, our intellect will not make a sound judgment. This can be compared to a driver who sees the street ahead, but fails to notice a “No Entry” sign, so he makes a wrong judgement, enters the street, and violates the law.
However, there are also cases where the intellect does not make any mistakes on its own. But the information that it receives is flawed or incorrect; or the nature of the subject is such that all its aspects are not apparent to the human intellect. Philosophical issues which are related to the essence of the human soul, the world after death, or the nature and attributes of God are typically of this kind. If the information available to our mind is fundamentally flawed, it is obvious that our intellect will form an incorrect and misleading judgment.
In another case, we may have no knowledge or education on a particular subject, so our intellect is incapable of making a judgment. For instance, if someone asks us about quantum mechanics or Bremsstrahlung radiation, and we have no prior study in these fields, we normally will not have any opinion to offer.
Apart from the above cases, the intellect itself should also be in perfect or good health to be able to reason and analyze a problem. This depends on how a person is born and on her individual capacities, which are different among different individuals.
The Factors Influencing Rational Judgment
In addition to the limitations that our intellect faces in various circumstances, sometimes rational judgment is influenced by internal or external factors. For example, the intellect may form a correct judgment by weighing various aspects of a subject, but under the influence of advertisements, pressures, emotions, or bias, it may get away from rationality and act against its findings. In fact, desires can prevent our intellect from acting according to what it knows is right. Biased criticism that some scientists make against certain theories is of this kind. Therefore, although the intellect is considered the most important tool for our recognition and analysis, it is not completely reliable.
In this article, we provided a general definition of philosophy and discussed the ups and downs of Western humanology. As mentioned before, Western humanology faces two major problems. The first one is the limitation of the human intellect as the primary tool of knowing philosophy. The second one is its reliance on some of the achievements of experimental humanology, which itself has numerous flaws.
We would be happy to have your thoughts on this topic before you continue reading the rest of the articles.