Of Humanity and Monsters

If you start introducing the history of the Black Plague in the right announcer voice, it sounds like the trailer for a great post-apocalyptic flick. The difference between history and fiction in this case, however, is in the rebuilding. One of our movies would focus on struggle, weakness, and the worst of us. It would look at human goodness with a scarcity mentality, celebrating moral grayness at the end of the world.

But, the Humanists didn’t. They found their glory in the strength and beauty of humanity. These thinkers came through a tragedy where they had very little control or ability to save lives (and were essentially at the mercy of fleas) celebrating the greatness of man. This seems counter-intuitive, but I’m still working on my cynical tendencies. I could be wrong.

Whether I’m biased by a darker glass than others or not, I’m not the only one. If entertainment like The Walking Dead is a reflection of societal thoughts and fears, then we lost the Humanist mentality somewhere along the way. We’ve come to believe that we are not only the apex predator, but monster in the closet. Montaigne found nobility in humans that others referred to as savages, while we make movies like Arrival where we have to be saved from—and despite—ourselves.

While we celebrate the printing press and the effect it had on inspiring generations, there’s a good chance that this straying from Humanist thought began with the printing press as well. The printing press showed us that we were hungry to understand the world, but it also gave us the belief that we could want to understand it. That we deserved it.

That need turned into the telegram that gave us news of the American civil war and the sinking of the Titanic. It gave us the radio that filled us with reports of a war-torn Europe. Then it gave us the film that showed us the holocaust and the atom bomb. In the grand scheme of things, it didn’t take us very long to go from criticizing the Catholic church for burning Bibles to wondering how we can control information in our day and age.

So, after seeing in graphic detail just what kind of evil humanity is capable of, do we get to say “What a piece of work is man!” with sincerity or sarcasm? Can we still look on the human form with joy? Or with only with trepidation?

I think we have to create a personal answer to that. And mine, with all of the value, experience, and cynicism that it holds, agrees with the humanists. Just with a word of caution. What a piece of work is man! And how important it is to guide that incredible power along moral lines.

Image credit to pixaby.com

The Best of all Possible Worlds

It is fascinating that following the black plague in Europe, where nearly a third of the population died, the great thinkers of the renaissance put humans at the center of a universe created for them. Pico della Mirandola said,

I feel that I have come to some understanding of why man is the most fortunate of living things and, consequently, deserving of all admiration...

This idea that man is the most fortunate of all beings, despite the clear evils around characterized the great hope of the humanists in the 15th century.

A map of Guina by Jodocus Hondius (1598)

 It led to great explorations, pushing the boundaries into brave new worlds created for us, the humans. They exaggerated tales, but it seems like they truly did believe that this was the best of worlds, and that humans were at the center of it all. This seed of an idea idea of a best of all possible worlds stuck with humanity. The 17th century philosopher  Leibniz believed it, and argued that God has done all he can for us.

In the present, we have lost sight of mans place in the world. We look at the evils around us, the fighting and disease and wonder how we could be the "most fortunate of all living things". This attitude however was what carried Europe away the dark ages, above the awful plague, and across the oceans. If we too wish to conquer the evils of our day, rising above as a voyagers to brave new worlds, we too must live with the belief that we have been blessed, that we have the agency and ability to change our circumstances. Only then can we arrive at our El Dorado.