A Critical Genealogy of Humanism

'Humanism' is among the most powerful terms in historical and contemporary political, religious, and philosophical debates. The term serves to position itself in ideological conflicts and to cement a claim to interpretation, but is highly contradictory. This Element addresses 'humanism' in its striking contradictions. Contemporary definitions are confronted with the historical contexts the term 'humanism' is applied to. Based on Niethammer's invention of 'humanism' as an anti-enlightenment pedagogical concept (1808), the book does not present a mere conceptual history, but rather a theoretically oriented discourse, an examination of the front positions, between which humanism has been constructed. In this way, its 'impossibility' is shown, which is rooted in its strict contextuality. Secondly, historiographical alternatives to this dilemma are pointed out, in order to finally give suggestions not only for an ethical-normative work of the historian of humanism, but for dealing with 'humanism' in general, in connection with discourse-theoretical suggestions. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

• Publication date: 5 March 2026
• Page count: 74
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Format: Hardback
• ISBN-13: 9781009634267