CC BY
9Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences 2 (2014 7) 341-346
УДК 130.122
Humanistic Content of Spiritual Outlook like Vector of Development Human and Society
Yury F. Abramova* and Svetlana P. Shtumpfb
aIrkutsk State University 1 Karl Marx Str., Irkutsk, 664003, Russia bKrasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University named after V.P. Astafiev 89 Ada Lebedeva Str., Krasnoyarsk, 660049, Russia
Received 14.10.2013, received in revised form 22.11.2013, accepted 12.01.2014
This article investigates the phenomenon of spiritual outlook; the phenomenon that genetically determined for national socio-cultural tradition. The topicality of the theme is determined by the state of the contemporary social situation. The spiritual outlook is able to withstand the destructive global trends toward dehumanization of social life, expanded changing of world outlook positions, and technicalization of thinking. The problems of the value content of individual and social life, their correlation with the universal humanistic dominants have the paramount importance. The author believes that the premises of humanistic attitude to life are laid in a man as natural spiritual characteristics. He analyzes the meaning of humanism, its practical value in different historical epochs, interconnectivity and function in the spiritual space of the individual and society. Article confirms the statement of the humanitarian nature of the phenomenon of spiritual outlook, demand for value based cues of spiritual outlook and humanism at the individual and public-social levels.
Keywords: spiritual outlook, humanism, humanistic upbringing, moral, personality, society.
Introduction
In the space of human knowledge, the humanistic ideas are closely connected with the problems of development of the person and society. The study of humanistic bases of spiritual outlook is very important in connection with a difficult situation of times we live in. The ideological, moral, spiritual crisis that is present in our society determines the need and sets the conditions of search for ways to overcome the present circumstances, and renewal of the
existential strategy of mankind. The adoption of spiritually oriented direction of the development seems a possible way to overcome the conflict.
The actualization of the spiritual vector of development takes a centre stage in the personal space, makes it possible to overcome the subject-object dichotomy in a person. With this approach it is possible to develop not only the natural and creative potential with the aim to achieve harmony on a personal level, but also involvement of separate-individual in
© Siberian Federal University. All rights reserved
* Corresponding author E-mail address: philosophy@chair.isu.ru
public-social, establishment of communication between these worlds (Abramov, 2009). Therefore, the explication of humanistic bases of spiritual outlook in the individual and the social space of human existence seems quite objective.
Statement of the problem
During the existence of human society, one can trace the interest to the essence of spiritual outlook that is closely connected with the attempt to understand the phenomenon of a man and the conditions of achievement by it the maximum level of development of its essential powers. The spiritual space of the person includes a variety of manifestations of human nature: good and evil, sublime and sinister, earthly and heavenly. And only through the development, the person achieves a gradual ascent to the spirit and understanding of the supreme culture values. This process involves awareness, determination of the compliance of their actions and thoughts to the moral and aesthetic criteria; comprehension, experience of personal life and relationships with other people - neighbors and distant ones, and with the society as a whole.
To disclosure essential manifestations of humanism, we turn to the meaning of the phenomenon of spiritual outlook itself, which, according to L. P. Bueva, "... there is an integrative quality referring to the area of life-purpose values determining the content, quality and focus of human existence and the "human image" in every individual" (Bueva, 1996). We use it as the initial statement: namely humanism serves as the substantial basis of spiritual outlook. In our opinion, the central issue of spiritual outlook is solved here: what other person means for us -the aim or tool, what is the value of human life, honor, and dignity? Our starting premise can be confirmed by the words: "Key characteristics, around which a humanistic sense of spiritual
outlook focuses, are faith, hope, and love" (Bueva, 1996).
Discussion
Specifying the term "humanism", we turn to the references. The etymological meaning of the term refers to the Latin word "humanus" - human. In a philosophical sense, it is anthropocentric, historically changing system of ideas that recognizes the value of human as a person, his right to freedom, happiness, development and expression of their abilities. It establishes the human benefit as a criterion for evaluation of social institutions, the principles of equality, justice, and humanity as a desired norm of relations between people. A narrower meaning - it is a direction of social thought emerged in the times Renaissance that was addressed to the human as an individual, person, active, creative subject, and based on the recognition of the supreme value of the human.
The term itself came into use to indicate the area of culture dealing with the study of its classic examples, and which own spirit is revealed in its opposition to the field of scientific disciplines. It was believed that the literature (poetry, rhetoric, history, and philosophy) has played the main role for the formation of the liberal education and spiritual nurture of the human. Indeed, these sciences study human in terms of its general characteristics, give it a special knowledge in a particular area, and promote its general education (Rybin, 2004). But the important thing is that among all of the other disciplines they are most favorable for the human formation and development of his spiritual nature.
Basic principles of humanism are based on the humane attitude to people. The ideal image of such relationships was present since ancient times. Motives of humaneness, philanthropy, dreams of personal happiness and just organization of society are universal for the folklore, literature, moral-and-philosophical and religious concepts
of thinkers from different cultures. Thus, in the teaching of Confucius, the one of the basic concepts is the concept "zhen" that in translation means "humanity", "human" or "philanthropy" and represents one of the criteria of the utmost virtue.
In ancient Greece and Rome, the problems of humanism, humanistic education and, indirectly, spiritual outlook, were in the focus of many philosophers. Initially these ideas designated the ideal of the Greek community life and way of thinking that just might be worthy of human life. In the ancient world, the term "humanism" covered the set of the various aspects of life, but was subsequently reduced to the meaning of an attribute of the educational system. This narrowing of the term indicates formed conception of a human that underlies requirements for institutions of education, harmonious development of personality. This idea was reduced to the physical and spiritual formation of the person, realization of all its potentials. A. A. Kontarev draws attention to the fact that "... the specifics of humanism of ancient Greece is the cultivation of value norm of human life activity, which is in harmonious relation of the natural and the supernatural principles providing his commensurate existence in space as an element" (Kontarev, 2002). The idea of the universality of human in ancient Greek culture finds expression as the idea of "harmonious human". In this form, the humanism further became the ideology of ancient Rome. The basis of its success was cosmism of humanism, and its inclusiveness.
A new era - the Middle Ages - gives a new form of humanistic attitude to world. The Christian humanism is based on antiquity, but denies the leading role of the natural side. Human now represents not just a corporal-sensual substance animated by mind, but a divine creation. The spirituality sets the perfect examples
of true ideal existence, which are a reflection and origin of values of a supreme order - the divine ideas. For religious people, God plays a role of Absolute. Almighty is the Good, which finds its expression in the laws and moral principles given in Scripture, which are humanistic in nature. He, when creating a man in His own image, gives him the ethics, commits to coordinate his actions and thoughts with norms and commandments introduced by Him. That ethical principle obliges man to philanthropy, sets conditions of spiritual existence.
A true flowering of humanism falls on the Renaissance. The culture is formed, in which the interest awakens to knowledge the inner world of human and to human relationships, the idea of human dignity, his right to freedom and full development of abilities asserts. Getting rid of the traditional relations of the feudal system, where their belonging to a particular caste, shop, and family was leading, people find their own personality, their own face. Humanism meant going beyond the medieval world outlook with its theocentrism, asceticism, belittling earthly life of human. It was not homogeneous, various tendencies and schools found their place in it. People involved in them called themselves "humanists". Ideas developed by them, their freethinking were little compatible with religious dogmas. Their activities initiated the development of secular literature and art, found reflection in the thinking of philosophers, works of writers and poets of that time, in the new teaching relied on ancient traditions, as opposed to medieval attitudes (Avdeeva, 2013).
The attitude towards past culture and to the history in general clearly defines the essence of humanism. The feature of this relationship is not in just a delight, not in the broader coverage, but in certain historical consciousness, in a way, in which this past is known. This way of understanding of the past is the "sense of history"
and the historical dimension with the appropriate attention to objectivity, knowledge of distancing with the object of history, to the knowledge of historical circumstances. In the humanistic approach, the discovery of the ancient world and the discovery of human are not distinguished, because they are a single process. To discover the ancient world as such, it means to commensurate oneself with it, separate, establish a relationship with it. During the Renaissance, the synthesis of a new spirit manifested in Western European countries with the antiquity itself happens, and, at the same time, this spirit finally destroying the medieval theories opens the way to the New times. "If we understand humanism as a mission of humanizing by means of humanistic literature and art perfecting human nature, then it coincides with the renovation... It is the revival of the human spirit: so humanism and renaissance are two sides of the same phenomenon" (Reale, Antiseri, 1994).
In the XIX century, the concept of "humanism" originally came into use to describe the specifics of the Renaissance, and only later it acquired independent meaning as a motivational system of all-European culture. Thinkers paid great attention to the combination of personal and public interests, laid the foundation for the concept of freedom and individual rights, and legal state. Within of this direction, the humanism developed as a system of views, in the center of which a man stands in the fullness of individual and social manifestations. The environmental conditions of human life play an important role. These include the cultural and historical circumstances (relationships), in which a person has to live and create, implementing internal potentials. The humanistic direction of worldview of society surrounding the person takes in this case the paramount importance. However, the fact remains that the humanistic tendencies finding effective expression in society become the most pointed in
the personal space of a single individual, and in the sphere of his spiritual development.
The inner world of a human and his subjectivity are formed with the participation of many intentions. Under them, the intangibles, priceless for people items of worship are implied; life, health, freedom, honor and independence of their families and themselves. These are behavioral influences, from which you can not deviate, and they cannot be avoided. In our opinion, values named are directly correlating with the humanistic nature of spiritual outlook, characteristics of its existence within individual existence (Stumpf, 2012).
The humanistic principle of spiritual outlook gives a starting point for comprehension and obtaining personal life experience of life experience, brings to the problem of finding the meaning of life, which is becoming particularly actual moving to the common to mankind level. We are talking about the conditions, under which the meaning of life as a complex awareness of the possibility of contented being fulfills its basic function - allows a person to feel happiness, satisfaction with the process of life activity and communication with the outside world, and in its supreme manifestations - to achieve spiritual perfection. These conditions are directly dependent on the presence of the humanistic components in the humanistic and spiritual space of a person - philanthropy, striving for moral perfection, dynamic self-development and self-realization of a dynamic, experience of cognitive, ethical, and aesthetic aspects of life (Schweitzer, 1992). They express the degree of positive influence on the process of personality formation and success of its activities. This paradigm is adhered by the humanistic concept of the XX century.
The modern humanism comes from the fact that the supreme value and measure of all things is the man himself and his life. The basis of
humanism today is considered to be a scientific knowledge of the world based on natural-scientific empirical experience of a man, on faith in the infinite possibilities of self-organization and cognition. However, it should be noted that nominating as the single basis for the humanistic outlook only the science as the only reliable source of knowledge and understanding of the universe, thinking mankind in the person of the President of the International Academy of Humanism Paul Kurtz, the author of Humanist Manifesto 2000, stops in front of questions about the meaning of life, moral motivation and human capabilities to define his place in the overall picture of the world. Taking into account the fundamentalism, criticality and reliability of scientific research, it is impossible to ignore the fact that they are based on a study of reality artificially constructed by science itself, which does not cover all the field of the free action and thought and, most importantly, does not take into account the emotional involvement of a person. It should be also taken into account, the V. A. Kuvakin's argument about the possibility of the existence of humanism only as an ideal ideological structure,
to which we can strive for, but we cannot achieve it under any circumstances (Kuvakin, 2006). It is only model that assumes the stability and vector direction of human development, which is confirmed by the process of history never having the experience of living in conditions of absolute humanism.
Conclusion
We believe that the basic premises of the humanistic approach to life are laid in man as natural spiritual characteristics. These include the moral qualities of a person, emotional empathy in the world, dignity and aspiration for knowledge, comprehension of existence.
In this context, the universal humanistic principles - philanthropy, beauty, perfection, harmony, truth, morality, hope, faith, love - are sinking in a meaningful space of the concept "spiritual outlook". This confirms our assumption on the integrality of spiritual outlook and humanism, humanitarian nature of the spiritual outlook phenomenon, revealed in the variety of existing capabilities, values and responsibilities that make human life commendable.
References
1. Abramov, Y.F. Sotsial'no-filosofskaia priroda dukhovnosti kak basovoi gumanitarnoi tsennosti. [Social philosophical natural of spiritual outlook like basic humanitarian value]. Irkutsk, ISU, 2009. 62 p.
2. Avdeeva, E.A. Gumanitarizatsiia obrazovaniia v zerkale ontoantropologii [Humanization of education in mirror ontological anthropology: monograph]. Krasnoyarsk, KrasSMU, 2013. 464 p.
3. Bueva, L.P. (1996). Spiritual outlook, art creation, moral. Questions of philosophy, (2), P. 3-9.
4. Kontarev, A.A. (2002). Phenomenon of Western European humanism: universalism, rationalism, globalism. Philosophy of law, (1), P. 68.
5. Kuvakin, V.A. (2006). Science worldview and humanism. Vestnik, MSU. Ser. 7: Philosophy. (4), P. 84-92.
6. Reale, J., Antiseri, D. Zapadnaia filosofiia ot istokov do nashikh dnei. [Western philosophy from beginning to our day]. In 4 t., translate from Italian. St.P., 1994. Book 2: Antiquity. P. 224.
7. Rybin, V.A. Gumanizm kak eticheskaia kategoriia. [Humanism like ethica category]. M.: Logos, 2004. 272 p.
8. Schweitzer, A. Blagogovenieperedzhizn'iu. [Reverence before life]. Translate from Germany. M.: Progress, 1992. 576 p.
9. Shtumpf, S.P. Sotsial'no-filosofskii analiz fenomena dukhovnosti. [Socio-philosophical analysis of phenomenon of spiritual outlook]. Irkutsk: ISU, 2012. 123-151 p.
Гуманистическое измерение духовности как вектор развития человека и общества
Ю.Ф. Абрамов^ С.П. Штумпфб
аИркутский государственный университет Россия, 664003, Иркутск, ул. К. Маркса, 1 бКрасноярский государственный педагогический университет
им. В. П. Астафьева Россия, 660049, Красноярск, ул. А. Лебедевой, 89
Статья посвящена исследованию феномена духовности - явления, генетически обусловленного для отечественной социокультурной традиции. Актуальность тематики определена состоянием современной общественной ситуации. Духовность способна противостоять разрушительным глобальным тенденциям, направленным на дегуманизацию общественной жизни, экспансированное изменение мировоззренческих позиций, технизацию мышления. Первостепенную важность приобретают проблемы ценностного наполнения индивидуального и социального бытия, их корреляция с универсальными гуманистическими доминантами. Автор полагает, что предпосылки гуманистического отношения к жизни заложены в человеке в виде природных духовных характеристик. Анализируется содержательное значение понятия «гуманизм», его прикладное значение в различные исторические эпохи, взаимосвязанность и функционирование в духовном пространстве личности и общества. Подтверждается положение о гуманитарной природе феномена духовности, востребованности ценностных ориентиров духовности и гуманизма на отдельно индивидуальном и общественно-социальном уровнях.
Ключевые слова: духовность, гуманизм, гуманистическое воспитание, нравственность, личность, общество.
