The Historical Definition Of Concept Of Humanism

As an ideology in Western academic tradition, Humanism has a great impact on the Western cultures, so it is a focus of Western scholar's attention. But what is Humanism? Scholars are still debating this issue. The word "Humanism" has a number of meanings in Western lexicons, and has many explanations in Western historical writings. With reference of this term, every researcher has his understanding. In general, we take the Humanism as a"cultural movement centered in Italy during the Renaissance period". In fact, the term"Humanism"was introduced by historians in the 19th century to treat the ideas during the Renaissance period, from the 14th century to 16th century. It serves as a watershed from the Middle Ages to the Modern society. With the advancement of research for Renaissance, as for the term Humanism, many different explanations appeared. So, it is necessary to redefine and outline the true meaning of Humanism.This dissertation consists of three parts: preface, main body and conclusion.The part of preface introduces the domestic and foreign researches. The inducement of selecting this theme is presented.The main body is divided into four parts. The fist part discusses the origin and evolution of humanism. From Paideia, humanitas, studia humanitatis, humanista, humanismus, to humanism, the term Humanism has changed in the form of glossary. Although it had different expresses during different period, humanism shared a basic meaning, education and humanization. The second and third parts, a number of explanations are treated, including the ideas of scholars and the narrations in dictionaries and lexicons. On the basis of various meanings of the term Humanism, the true meaning and connotation of Humanism is presented. The fourth part, from various angles, the socio-political, economical and cultural development, delivers the appearance of the term Humanism and its meaning.The last part is the conclusion of the paper. The definition of Humanism indicates that Humanism is a discussable problem forever.