Humanism

"Over the word humanism hovers the scholarly dust of four centuries... To grasp the intimate meaning of humanism, let us conduct an intellectual experiment. Let us suppose that social and scientific progress has reached its height. Imagine a society without war, without class struggles, without any struggle for existence. Social and sexual problems have been solved. Sickness has disappeared and the prisons are closed. There are no governmental or economic restrictions. Production increases without obstructions. The terrors of death have been eradicated by officially approved euthanasia. In this ideal society there is nothing for socialism to do, nor for pacifism, nationalism, or imperialism. In this society, however, men will continue to be born and to die. All the technical problems of society are solved; the only problem remaining is this: to find out the meaning of human existence. How should I live? How should I love? How should I die? These questions will always be asked and perhaps now with more anxiety than ever. This utopian man, who exists in the best of all possible worlds, will wonder in anguish and sorrow: What am I? What is humanity? How can we make life into something more radiant and profound?... But it's unnecessary to await this imaginary humanity of the future. Those questions persist today just as they have persisted throughout history, because they are questions born with the being and nature of man."

- Ernst Robert Curtius