Humanism is an educational and philosophical outlook that emphasizes the personal worth of the individual and the central importance of human values as opposed to religious belief.  It developed in Europe during the Renaissance, influenced by the study of ancient Greek and Latin literature and philosophy. Humanism thus began as an educational programme called the humanities, which inculcated those ancient secular values which were consistent with Christian teachings. The Renaissance humanists were often devout Christians, but they promoted secular values and a love of pagan antiquity.

The great intellectual movement of Renaissance Italy is described as 'humanism'.  It developed as a new spirit of learning at the end of the middle ages with the revival of classical thought and a renewed confidence in the ability of human beings to determine for themselves truth and falsehood. Renaissance humanists believed that the Greek and Latin classics contained all the lessons one needed to lead a moral and effective life and provided the best models for a powerful Latin literary style. There was a new, rigorous kind of classical scholarship, with which the North Italian merchant communities tried to understand the works of the Greeks and Romans, which seemed so vital to them.

In the course of the fifteenth century the republican elites of Florence and Venice and the ruling families of Milan, Ferrara, and Urbino hired humanists to teach their children classical morality and to write elegant, classical letters, and histories.

The humanists also convinced most of the popes that the papacy needed their skills. Sophisticated classical scholars were appointed to write official correspondence and propaganda; to create an image of the popes as powerful, enlightened, modern rulers of the Church; and to apply their scholarly tools to the church's needs, including writing a more classical form of the Mass.

The relation between popes and scholars was never simple, for the humanists evolved their own views on theology. Some argued that pagan philosophers like Plato basically agreed with Christian revelation. Others criticized important Church doctrines or institutions that lacked biblical or historical support. Some even seemed in danger of becoming pagans. The real confrontation came in the later sixteenth century, as the church faced the radical challenge of Protestantism. Some Roman scholars used the methods of humanist scholarship to defend the Church against Protestant attacks, but others collabourated in the imposition of censorship. Classical scholarship, in the end, could not reform the Church which it both supported and challenged.

In the High Renaissance, Rome was the centre of the literary movement known as "Ciceronianism" that aimed to standardize Latin diction by modelling all prose on the writings of Cicero. The leaders of the movement hoped thereby to make Latin usage more precise and elegant; they also hoped to establish a kind of linguistic orthodoxy maintained by the authority of Rome. Although humanists had thronged the papal court since the beginning of the century, Pius II was the first real humanist to sit in the chair of Peter. Born in Siena as Enea Silvio Piccolomini, he acquired a reputation as a diplomat, belletrist, and womanizer, and was crowned poet laureate by the Emperor Frederick in 1442. After serving the emperor and the anti- Roman Council of Basel, Piccolomini joined the Roman camp in 1446. He became a cardinal in 1456 and in 1458 was elected pope. As pope, the only work of scholarship he was able to continue was his "Commentaries," a remarkably frank autobiography in which he put his passions and prejudices on full view. In the passage shown here, Pius expresses his bitter contempt for the French, who had been unwilling to join his crusade against the Great Turk.

The humanists dedicated themselves to reviving antiquity-- that is, to searching for, copying, and studying the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Poggio Bracciolini, a long- time employee of the church, was the most brilliant of the early fifteenth-century manuscript hunters. He braved what he described as the squalid, neglected libraries of Germany, Switzerland, and England in his quest for new texts. Later in the century, curial scholars began to collate - - and digest -- the new mass of material, and to translate vital Greek sources, like the works of Herodotus and Thucydides. Not all of these texts were clearly acceptable to Christians, or even consistently moral. But Roman intellectuals prized problematical works like the epigrams of Martial as well as moral ones like most of the dialogues of Plato. Vatican manuscripts enable us to follow the humanists at work, writing in the margins of their texts and then collecting and publishing their notes as scholarly works.

As it developed from the Renaissance, humanism resorts to human-centred explanation for humanity's place in the universe, including humanity's relationship to nature. It represents, in one sense, a paradigm shift from thought dominated by Christianity during the middle-ages. This fact, coupled with the great increase in scientific investigation, aided the breakup of philosophy into the many different subjects that are taught in schools today. The Renaissance, the rise of humanism, and the Enlightenment laid the foundation for the way philosophy has developed since 1500. Obviously, the science of ecology represents one outgrowth of these developments; it is thought that ecology will slowly replace physics as the primary model for understanding nature.

Among many Deep Ecology and Ecofeminist in Green Politics, humanism represents a mindset at war with wild nature. On the one hand, placing humanity at the centre of the universe, over it in some ways, helps to justify domination of nature and its destruction. On the other hand, as an approach to nature, humanism will never achieve a full understanding of nature's complexity, in spite of scientific ecology. As a result, humanity's quest to manipulate nature to its wants and needs spells disaster for biodiversity as well as humanity's reverence for nature.

By the 18th century the word humanism had come to be identified with a purely secular attitude-- one that often rejected Christianity altogether.

The modern humanist movement is an international organization formed by people of different ages, origins, culture and religion, united by the project to build a truly human society. In this context, humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethics based on human and other natural values in a spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality.  The vision is for a society in which the human being, with his needs and aspirations, is the central value; society in which human rights are completely realized: the right to health, instruction, freedom, spirituality, search for the meaning of life, and an existence with dignity.

Since humanists are committed to working for a global community in which all humans can flourish, they are as concerned about ecological degradation as environmentalists. This is the current sphere of ecohumanism where, in regard to what should be done about environmental problems, humanists do not hesitate to use the best scientific information and technology to reclaim the natural world while ensuring the welfare of all human beings. Humanists stress that science and technology must be used responsibly and that human beings must learn to give up destructive ideological fantasies, whether political or religious.tIt is in these terms that ecohumanism has developed, which views the destiny of the human species in a full relation with a living planet and not as something apart from it. Neohumanism is a growing international network with the aim of promoting sustainable development incorporating ideas of freedom, justice, benign science and spiritual values of environmentalism into everyday life.