Idea
This claim states that humanism has two forms: religious and secular. The meaning is that respect for human beings and the defense of their dignity are not confined to the nonreligious sphere, but may also appear within religions and sacred texts. This distinction broadens the concept of humanism and prevents it from being limited to a single model.
Condensed Formulation
Humanism: divided into religious and secular
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This distinction lies at the heart of the book’s attempt to reorder the relationship between religion and the human being. It explains that humanism is not necessarily opposed to religion, but can arise from within it as well. In this way, the claim serves the text’s aim of dismantling the prejudices that assume an inevitable contradiction between religiosity and humanism.
Why It Matters
The importance of this claim is that it eases the verbal tension between the “religious” and the “secular,” and shows that human value can take more than one form. This helps us understand Arkoun as being concerned with the possibility of coexistence among different referential frameworks without abolishing any one of them.
Brief Evidence
This view distinguishes between two humanist tendencies: religious and secular. The meaning is that defending the human being and his dignity is not confined to the nonreligious sphere, but may also appear within religions and sacred texts. Thus the concept of humanism expands and is not limited to a single model.
Reading Questions
- What does speaking of a religious humanism add to our understanding of the concept of humanism?
- How does this distinction change the way we read the relationship between religion and human values?
Degree of Documentation
High: the claim appears in a clear location in the book’s material.