Talk:New Humanism (disambiguation)
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[edit]The current article 'New Humanism (disambiguation)' mentions: "New Humanism is a movement in literary criticism led by Irving Babbitt"
From that current article 'New Humanism': "New Humanism or neohumanism were terms applied to a theory of literary criticism, together with its consequences for culture and political thought, developed around 1900 by the American scholar Irving Babbitt, and the scholar and journalist Paul Elmer More" – The past tense ("were terms") indicates that this usage is no longer the main meaning of 'New Humanism'; also the content of that article does not give sufficiently diverse references to convince me that this particular meaning is the most prevalent. I assume the article should better be renamed (e.g. 'New Humanism (Babbitt, More)' or 'New Humanism (1920-1940 literary criticism)' or 'New Humanism (20th century Interbellum)' or... Anyway, it seems incorrect to mention merely Irving Babbit on the disambiguation page; the article Paul Elmer More states: "He collaborated with Irving Babbitt from before 1900 in the project later labelled New Humanism." and this term "project" makes me doubt about the correctness of calling it "a movement of literary criticism". The article on Babbit calls New Humanism "a significant influence on literary discussion and conservative thought", the latter makes it not just literary criticism but also a philosophy.
The current article 'New Humanism (disambiguation)' also mentions: "a movement in Argentine literature" but this linked article on this subject states: "About 1950 another milestone arises: the New Humanism, a response to World War II and its aftermath. On one level are avant-gardists like Raúl Gustavo Aguirre, Edgar Bayley and Julio Llinás; on another, existentialists: José Isaacson, Julio Arístides and Miguel Ángel Viola. Further away, those who reconcile both tendencies with a regionalist basis: Alfredo Veiravé, Jaime Dávalos and Alejandro Nicotra. Among narrators we find charged testimonies of the times: Beatriz Guido, David Viñas and Marco Denevi. In a majority of these writers, a strong influence of Anglo-Saxon and Italian poetry can be perceived." It then seems to continue with 1960-1990 non-Argentinian Existentialists including Jean-Paul Sartre, though in fact Sartre's L'Existentialisme est un humanisme (Existentialism is a Humanism) dates from 1946.
I got the impression that both the above meanings for 'New Humanism' are related to literature and to philosophy in a very similar way. It is not clear (at least from the mentioned Wikipedia texts) whether in the 20th century post WWII, the term was strictly limited to Argentine or may have been used just as well for literary and philosophical tendencies elsewhere.
The current article 'New Humanism (disambiguation)' also mentions: "New Humanism (Humanist Movement) (see also Humanist International)" – in fact about 'Siloism', a 1960 philosophy that in 1969 became a movement. This Silo was an Argentinian writer from the era mentioned here above. It thus seems that this 'New Humanism' is part of the above-mentioned "movement in Argentine literature" and should not need to be disambiguated. Perhaps the article on Argentine literature might be a better place to separate Siloism from other Argentinian 'New Humanism' strands, if such separation would be due, and if the term 'New Humanism' would indeed be strictly limited to Argentine.
Finally, the current article 'New Humanism (disambiguation)' mentions: "Neo-humanism, a philosophy propounded by Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar". This 1982 holistic philosophy is clearly different from both above-mentioned Interbellum and post WWII meanings. The term 'propounded' seems out of place: this is not the normal word for a philosophy that had followers, unless these are immediately named – as correctly done in the article's section: "Books by other authors on Neo-Humanism as propounded by P. R. Sarkar:". The disambiguation page should not suggest that this philosophy was merely propounded.
As disambiguation page, the current article fails: it suggests distinctions that are not quite true (movement in literary criticism, movement in [Argentine] literature, Humanist movement, philosophy) while not mentioning the common aspect as philosophies; and the distinction between Argentine literature and Humanist movement may be strongly overrated. — SomeHuman 3 Sep2006 16:45 (UTC)