Universalization of the Human. The History of Humanitas

Abstract

In this paper we review the different ways in which the concept of the humanitas has been understood, as a sustenance for humanistic ideals, through different epochs, from its origins in Classical Antiquity, to the present day. This general glance at some of the central aspects of the humanitas allows to draw a panoramic view of the different models of humanism that have characterized some specific epochs, especially the Renaissance. A brief analysis is also made of some of the antihumanist positions that emerged in Modernity, or of the criticisms that some contemporary authors have held against the very concept of Humanism.