Preserving the Humane: Humanistic Ideal and Human Reality

Abstract

The article investigates the question of the humane in the human being through the dialectic of ideal and reality. Engagement with debates on human essence leads to the recognition of its non-predetermined nature and of the multiplicity of potential possibilities inherent in individuals, which develop over the course of a lifetime. The separation of ideal and reality in the consideration of the human being gives rise to the distinction between the ideal human and the empirical human. Their divergence raises the question of progression toward the humanistic ideal and the cultivation of the humane element within individuals. Considering this movement towards the humanist ideal along two trajectories – the creation of general conditions for its development and the exertion of personal effort – leads to an understanding of the humane not merely as a potentiality, but also as a challenge and a responsibility. History has demonstrated the untenability of both purely optimistic and pessimistic views of human nature, which calls for the concept of meliorism – the belief in the potential for improving the world through active endeavors. A distinction must be drawn between two aspects of humanistic values: on one hand, the universal value of the human being as such, inherent in every individual by virtue of belonging to the human species; on the other, the value of the humanity cultivated within the empirical individual, the degree of which varies significantly and serves as a prerequisite for that individual to function with the full scope of their rights and responsibilities. A consequence of this duality is the necessity of a binary, or “stereoscopic,” ethics that must account for and develop both aspects of humanity: the universal, unconditional humanity possessed by birthright, and the cultivated humanity, which is measured individually.