ABSTRACT
Humanism has had a long, though checkered, career in the history of philosophy. There have been many varieties of humanism appropriate to the different ages in which they appeared. Most humanists take man as a part of nature, even though man has his own unique dimensions, such as freedom. A number of diverse and often contending intellectual and philosophical movements may be said to be humanistic in character: naturalism, materialism, Marxism, positivism, analytic philosophy, phenomenology, and existentialism. Humanists have continually attacked the inconsistencies and hypocrisies of orthodox religions. The humanist does not exclude a transcendental reality on a priori grounds, nor does he necessarily deny that there may be aspects of the universe that perhaps are beyond investigation now or in the future. The most sensitive area of disagreement between Marxist humanists and liberal democratic humanists is the question of freedom for the individual.
