Читать книгу Critical Humanism - Ken Plummer - Страница 34

Taking our spiralling human connections seriously is no easy task, especially in a digital age. Critical humanism sees ‘connection’ as a pragmatic tool for living life. ‘Humanity’ here becomes the narrative that binds us together through our habitats and pursuits, from the bio-organic to the cosmic. It is through our stories of collective living that we come to sense our togetherness with others, our creativities, our limits. It is through these stories that we can come to sense possible human coherence. We start to see things that might just hold us all together: maybe a common humanity, a solidarity of common projects. Once we start making these narrative connections, we recognize something about who we are, where we came from and, indeed, why we are. All this is at the core of learning about becoming human. Religion is often at the heart of this storytelling. But in the twenty-first century we need more: a wider literacy and pedagogy of hope. New ideas appear across the generations. And older ideas that have recently been heavily critiqued and become unfashionable – like progress, dignity, rights, universal values – can be brought back, reconsidered and reconnected. The world is not a closed place, but a perpetual series of challenges to ‘only connect’. It will be wise to return to humanity and humanism. But this time round, we must do all this with a cautious, careful and critical eye.