10 CONTEMPORARY THINKERS OF HUMANISM - PHILOSOPHY - 2025

Some of the most important contemporary thinkers of humanism are Inmanuel Kant, Karl Marx, Frederich Hegel, Hebert Marcuse or Carl Rogers. Humanism is a tendency of thought that leans towards the affirmation that the human being is the center.

In this sense, humanism encompasses any type of reasoning that demonstrates an interest in human life and in the place that humans occupy in the world. It should be noted that the term "humanism" has a second meaning that is more limited and, therefore, more precise.

According to this second meaning, humanism is a cultural movement that occurred during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and that generated such a transformation in society that it ended the Middle Ages.

Later, in the Contemporary Age, 20th century, other aspects of humanism developed, such as existentialist humanism and Marxist humanism.

Likewise, other humanistic thinkers emerged, including Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, Federico Hegel, Herbert Marcuse, Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, Erich Fromm, Jean Paul Sartre, Rollo May, Friedich Engels.

List of outstanding contemporary thinkers of humanism

1- Immanuel Kant

German thinker. He was born in Konigsberg in 1724 and died in 1804. Kant's works revolved around morality and he developed the philosophical doctrine called deontologism.

Deontologism indicates that human beings have a moral duty. That is, human beings have a duty to act morally following a series of personal principles. These principles were called "maxims."

Likewise, Kant points out that the intention with which they carry out the actions, and not the consequences that may derive from them, is what determines whether a person's behavior is moral or immoral.

This means that if a moral action generates an immoral conclusion, it does not stop being the first moral action. The same is true in reverse, if an immoral action ends in a moral act, the initial action will remain immoral.

For Kant, only human beings are capable of acting morally or immorally, since they are the only ones who act rationally and with intention.

2- Karl Marx

German thinker. He was born in Trier, Germany, on May 5, 1818 and died in London, Great Britain, on March 14, 1883.

Marx is the father of socialism and communism, as well as the current that receives his name, Marxism.

Marxism is based on the fact that societies must advance through class struggle, which results in a socialist organization.

In turn, socialism would be replaced by communism, a society in which the figure of the State does not exist and in which the means of production are at the hands of the proletariat.

3- Friedrich Hegel

German thinker. He was born in Stuttgart on August 27, 1770 and died in Berlin on November 14, 1831.

He points out that the divine norm is to achieve human freedom and that all the suffering to which human beings are subjected is the price we must pay to be free.

4- Hebert Marcuse

German thinker. He was born in Berlin on July 19, 1898 and died in Stanberg on July 29, 1979.

Marcuse points out that human consciousness was formed during childhood, because it was in this period that the human being acquired the "frame of reference" that would allow him to face various circumstances in adulthood.

5- Carl Rogers

American philosopher and psychologist. He was born on January 8, 1902 in Illinois and died in 1987 in San Diego, California. Together with Abraham Maslow, he took a humanistic approach to psychology.

In his work "Psychological and Psychotherapeutic Orientation", he points out that human beings tend to need positive consideration from themselves, as well as from others. However, he cannot determine whether it is an innate or an acquired tendency.

6- Abraham Maslow

Abraham Maslow

American philosopher. He was born in New York on April 1, 1908 and died in Palo Alto, California, on July 8, 1970.

Maslow's postulates leaned toward structuring human needs around mental health.

His most recognized work is Maslow's pyramid, which hierarchically organizes human needs.

In the first level, the base of the pyramid, are the physiological needs (eat, sleep, rest, among others). At the second level is stability and security, needs aimed at guaranteeing the survival of human beings.

For its part, on the third level, there is the need for love and acceptance. At the fourth level, the need for esteem is located. Finally, on the fifth level, there is the need for self-realization.

7- Erich Fromm

German thinker. He was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1900 and died in Switzerland in 1980. In his book "The Escape from Freedom" (1941), he theorizes about the ways in which human beings lose freedom, namely: authoritarianism, destructiveness and automaton conformity.

8- Jean Paul Sartre

Sartre was a French existentialist and humanist Marxist philosopher. He was born in Paris on July 21, 1905 and died on April 15, 1980.

His main work is "Existentialism is humanism", in which he states that the human being is distinguished from "being a thing" by having a conscience.

It also indicates that human beings are "condemned to be free", are responsible for their actions and are fully aware of them. According to Sartre, the human being is nothing but the sum of his actions.

9- Roll May

He was born on April 21, 1909 and died on October 2, 1994. It establishes that the life of the human being is divided into stages: childhood (prior to morality because there is no intention), adolescence (in which the "I") and the adult stage (in which the "I" is affirmed).

10- Friedrich Engels

German philosopher. He was born in 1820 and died in 1895. He worked in conjunction with Marx. Together they published "The Communist Manifesto" and "The German Ideology".

Likewise, his work "Anti-Dühring" (1878) is one of the most relevant synthesis of Marxism.

References

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