Dictionary of New Humanism

Book by Silo wrote in spanish in 1996.

Explanation

The Dictionary of New Humanism is dedicated to the activists in the cause of humanizing the Earth, to those who aspire to build a universal human nation, and to all those now struggling against exploitation, inequality, fanaticism, and discrimination. It is also dedicated to those who have a genuine interest in human beings: in the difficulties, they now face and their open future in their misfortunes and their greatness.

The present work is partisan in the broadest sense of the word, and because the focus of this work is New Humanism, that perspective is developed and articulated in most of the articles.

This first edition of the Dictionary of New Humanism aspires to resolve two problems. The first arises when the term “humanism” is used so broadly that it becomes almost meaningless. The second is the opposite – an excessively narrow use that reduces the semantic field so that it appears as though one particular ideological position constitutes the only possible meaning of the term. When we speak of New Humanism we refer to this concept in neither its broadest sense nor in some unique or exclusive sense, but simply as one specific kind of humanism.

We should caution the reader concerning certain limitations in the present work: first, we have not included the full range of terms, some of which are inordinately technical, that appear in many works of a similar orientation; second, we have not managed to balance western humanism with other forms of humanism, equally rich, that are to be found in the most diverse cultures. We believe that these limitations will be overcome upon the completion of the ongoing project of producing an encyclopedia of the inclusive cultural scope that corresponds to New Humanism in its character as a universal humanism.

This Dictionary of New Humanism has been compiled under the auspices of the World Center for Humanist Studies. Numerous friends and colleagues have assisted in this project through direct contributions (in some cases editing entire articles), critical commentary on the manuscript, suggestions, computer assistance, and corrections. In this regard, we must not fail to mention B. Koval, S. Semenov, A. Carvallo, J. Feres, H. Novotny, E. Lemos, and M. Pampillón. In additional, we are grateful for the contributions of the authors of works on New Humanism, among whom we mention in particular S. Puledda, L. Ammann, C. Reitze, J. Montero de Burgos, and P. Parra.