ABSTRACT
Humanism has been the dominant paradigm in Western thought and culture for several hundred years. But humanism has many critics, and their criticisms continue to mount. This chapter tells how more-than-human geography emerged within the context of humanism’s continuing influence but growing problems. A summary intellectual history of humanism is provided tracing its development through the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. We explain how humans came to be understood as separate from, and elevated above, the rest of ‘Nature’; how humanists developed a strong commitment to rational thinking and a particular version of science; and how the political objectives of humanism came to centre on human freedoms (for some), equality (for some), and ‘progress’. Having established the contours of humanism, and its achievements, the focus of the chapter is on a variety of philosophical theories, cultural movements, scientific revelations, and political events that have undermined the humanist paradigm. Together, these varied criticisms are devastating. They set the stage for the chapters that follow that move beyond the deeply problematic legacies of the humanist project.
