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Humanism and Jainism
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Geeta MEHTA
The origin of humanism
Humanism as a philosophical and literary movement originated in Italy in the second half of the 14th century and diffused all over Europe. As an atheistic theory it was conceived in 17th century by French philosophers but as a theistic, pragmatic theory it was conceived indirectly around 2000 B.C. at the time of Vedas, Sramana Tradition and Upanishads in India. The Prayer - sarve atra sukhinah santu sarve santu niramāyāḥ "Let all be happy here and let all enjoy full health" of Vedic Sages echoed the Universal welfare. . The philosophy of Humanism has had many incarnations during the long history of mankind. In India, the humanistic tradition also started with Jain Acharyas who gave the tenet, sivam astu sarvajagatah “Let there be welfare of the whole world”. The western tenet, given by Protagoras is “Man is the measure of all things" (The truth above all things is man; there is nothing above him). "Humanism is any philosophy, which recognizes the value or dignity of man and takes human nature, its limits, or its interests as its theme."
Various interpretations of humanism Humanism is not an established school of philosophy, but is a definite philosophical outlook. It emphasized the worth and dignity of man by rejecting other worldliness and transcendentalism. It is this worldly, man-centered secular philosophical outlook. It claims that the man is self-sufficient and is able to comprehend the world phenomena and work out a certain social order without the help of God. It is an attitude towards and an approach to man's worldly life and values. It is characterized by interest in man, concern for man, and faith in man's reason and conscience for discriminating perception of truth and goodness. It also has to take note of man's cultural history, where values and standards have been discovered and set up by men, for men.
Mahāvīra's humanism
Mahāvīra's great contribution to Humanism consists in conceiving a religion that centers almost wholly around man and his life here in this world. Religion, according to him, should pervade all our activities; it cannot and ought not to be
