The measure of things : humanism, humility and mystery.

Abstract

The book begins with an account of the emergence of 'humanism', understood as the claim that any 'discursable' world is a 'human world', one whose description is relative to human purposes and perspectives. Humanism is contrasted with 'absolutism' which, it is argued, is a doctrine at once hubristic and implausible. However, it is also argued that a 'raw' humanism, which denies the existence of any reality beyond the human world, is also hubristic and 'unliveable'. The conclusion is drawn is that we must take seriously the existence of a radically mysterious order of reality, a 'source' for our human world. The final chapters discuss how one might be 'attuned' to this mystery and what implications for the conduct of life recognition of mystery may have.