« Un humanisme bien ordonné ne commence pas par soi-même, mais place le monde avant la vie, la vie avant l’homme, le respect des autres êtres avant l’amour-propre. »
Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908-2009), in L’Origine des manières de table, Paris, Plon,1968, anthropologue et ethnologue français (structuralisme). Il étudiera notamment les mythes, le totémisme en tant que mode d’organisation sociale… En 1973 , Lévi-Strauss sera élu à l’Académie française. En 1987, il recevra la médaille d’or du CNRS. Et en 2008, il sera le premier auteur à entrer de son vivant dans la célèbre collection de la Pléiade des Editions Gallimard.
« A well-ordered humanism does not begin with oneself, but places the world before life, life before man, respect for other beings before self-esteem. »
Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908-2009), in L’Origine des manières de table, Paris, Plon, 1968, is an eminent French anthropologist and ethnologist (structuralism). He studied myths, totemism as a mode of social organization… In 1973, Lévi-Strauss was elected to the French Academy. In 1987, he was awarded the gold medal of the CNRS. And in 2008, he will be the first author to enter the famous Pléiade collection of Editions Gallimard during his lifetime.
News from Ibonoco 
I think the problem with humanism is that it disregards God … so many atheists are drawn to humanism, there are no higher principles within humanism to keep it ethical and/or moral. Also many humanists get confused and eventually become ‘anti-human’ because they think humans are the biggest problem on the planet – then they think that means that humans should not have rights, because they are a problem and are less important than the planet – the next step in reasoning is that perhaps humans should be get rid of …
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Being a humanist does not mean that we do not believe in God, but that we place Man at the center of our concerns.
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Thanks Ibonoco – I understand, but a lot of athiests also call themselves ‘humanists’ and there seems to be no mechansim within humanism to deal with that, but of course of humanism is secular then it doesn’t mind whether people believe in God or not. In the enviorenmental movement for example there are people who seem to be to become so obsessed with the human overpopulation of the planet, that they consider humans to be a virus on the face of the planet – only recently did I see such comments, so that’s why I made this statement. All the best, J.J.
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One can be religious, caring and humanistic. There is no contradiction – in my opinion – between humanism and religion. Gandhi or Mother Theresa were religious beings and at the same time humanists.
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Sure, of course, and in that sense I am also a humanist; but what about the ‘humanists’ who insist that humans are the problem because they have overpopulated the planet and is detroying it? Of course it is true that humans are indeed damaging and slowly destroying the planet, but humans only do what humans do – it’s in their current nature. My point is only to say that within the section of humanism that do not believe in God, there is a tendency to become ‘anti-human’, then also deciding that is the job of ‘humanists’ to resolve this problem of overpopulation by any means possible. I appreciate your comments anyway and thank you for the thought-provoking disussion (this is my last comment). Best wishes, Jean-Jacques
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I don’t know these anti-human humanists you speak of. And fortunately! It seems almost inconceivable to me. Well, let’s remain optimistic: let’s believe in God, in Man.
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Un ordre rigoureux !
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C’est tout Lévy Strauss et son regard d’ethnologue
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Très belle citation mais c’est pas gagné…
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Une direction vers laquelle il faut tendre
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Bien d’accord
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Comme il se doit, oui …
Bonne soirée John et bon week-end,
Amitiés 😘
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Fort bien dit, and hopefully, it’s not…
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Bien sûr que non, et heureusement 😉☀️
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