secularism and empiricism are all core tenets of humanism in the modern era but when you start 700 years ago to be an atheist or a secularist is a pretty strong position. It's almost never taken, I mean if it is sometimes there have been things that have been found in the Inquisition records by scholars finding people who actually just come right out and say I don't believe there's a God. That doesn't preserve very well in the sort of high culture of or you know most of the records. Really you won't find people saying that, you probably won'tfind people believing it."
The writer Sarah Bakewell explores the long tradition of humanist thought in her latest book, Humanly Possible. She celebrates the writers, thinkers, artists and scientists over the last 700 years who have placed humanity at the centre, while defying the forces of religion, fanatics, mystics and tyrants.
But placing humans at the centre isn’t without problems – critics point to its anthropocentric nature and excessive rationalism and individualism, as well its Euro-centric history. The philosopher Julian Baggini guides the listener in unpicking the tenets of humanism. His latest books is How to Think Like a Philosopher: Essential Principles for Clearer Thinking.
Humanism may have relegated the divine to the side lines, but for the characters in Leila Aboulela’s novels faith and devotion are integral to their sense of themselves. In her latest book, River Spirit, set in Sudan in the 1880s, her young protagonists struggle to survive and find love amidst the bloody struggle for Sudan itself.
Producer: Katy Hickman