Humanism as a Worldview System (An Invitation to Discussion)

The article is dedicated to a systematic philosophical-logical analysis of humanism as a worldview system. The subject of the research is the internal structure of humanistic worldview, viewed through the hierarchical interconnection of ontology, axiology, praxiology, and ethics. The author investigates the problem of classification of humanism, paying special attention to the question of the generative criterion that allows distinguishing the essence of humanism as a worldview system distinct from other types of worldview. A separate focus of consideration is the internal contradiction of humanism between its ontology and ethics. The problem of the relationship between the value of the human subject and the human object is explored, along with the question of criteria for humanity, as well as the relationship between consumption and self-sacrifice as structurally different ontological positions. Finally, the analysis examines the logical connection between the humanistic worldview, consumer lifestyle, sociocentrism, and ideologies such as Nazism and fascism. The work employs a systematic philosophical-logical analysis of worldview systems, based on an ontological classification criterion: the apex of the hierarchy of being determines all derivative elements – axiology, praxiology, and ethics. The methodological foundation is a hierarchical-structural approach, in which ontology is viewed as genetically primary in relation to ethics. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the application of the ontological criterion as the only reliable basis for the classification of worldviews, which allowed for the identification of the essential characteristic of humanism – placing humans at the highest level of reality. It is shown for the first time that the only ontology satisfying this criterion is naturalistic, whereby "religious humanism" and "Kantian humanism" are not types of humanism but independent worldviews with a different ontology, and their classification as humanism is a classification mistake. An internal contradiction of humanism has been discovered and substantiated: its ethics are not derived from its ontology but borrowed from traditions with a different ontological basis, which makes the system eclectic. A strict distinction has been introduced between self-restraint as a quantitative measure of consumption and self-sacrifice as a structural opposite of consumption, ontologically implying the secondarity of the sacrificer. It has been proven that Nazism and fascism are a direct logical consequence of liberal-humanist ideology. The conclusion is made that humanism, by reducing the spiritual to a property of the organism, represents an ideology of dehumanization and is destructive in relation to the spiritual tradition.