A smart, beautifully written book.

Sarah Bakewell is one of the best philosophers and synthesizers of philosophical thought. She doesn’t just meander from one Humanist philosopher to the next but creates a steel thread through history that underscores the almost inevitable and organic wellspring that is Humanist thought. By the end of the first chapter you will be hooked.

I want nothing more than to lean unapologetically into my Humanist views after reading this foundational work on the topic. I wish that my professors in college had offered up even more classes on Humanism. What Bakewell shows us is not that Humanist thought is some optimistic frivolity but balm against the human experience. A philosophy that Bakewell demonstrates is about the unbreakable bond between us all and the boundless potential of individual capacity.

It makes you wonder if some of the growing extremism and cultish tendencies are not just cries for something more human centric. Something that capitalism, the hedonic treadmill, technology, and religion cannot fulfill. Our universities offer a humanities education but do not mandate it. Maybe that should change.

Furthermore, Bakewell reminds us through historical precedent that Humanism is a struggle with no end. So long as fascism and other evils exist. Humanism can also not be passive if it is to help bend the moral arc of the universe towards justice. She demonstrates not just by upholding Humanism’s ideals but exemplifying the countless times the thought leaders and philosophy failed the larger mission.

And how fitting a time to review Humanism; in the end, Bakewell highlights that we are on the precipice of AI becoming integral to existence. A moment that could challenge the meaning of what it means to be human. I highly recommend this book as a great primer for anyone interested in Humanism. From here you can identify additional reading based on the great Humanist thinkers covered by Bakewell. Or, you can be so enthralled by this book alone that you end up buying multiple copies to give out.

Found it harder to wade through than “the existentialist cafe” which I loved but important to see this overview of a line of thought. Continuing to ponder…“It was that so many people seemed to LONG for violence and unreason” and “It sounds simple, it sounds easy. But it will take all the ingenuity we can muster.”